Pattern Review: Summer Caye by Love Notions

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I have been busy sewing lately, just not so busy blogging about it.

But I am really excited to share a new pattern I had the pleasure of testing: the Summer Caye by Love Notions. 

This is a pattern for flowy wide leg shorts, capris and pants with some fun options for girls and women.

And they are awesome. I haven't been this excited for a pattern in a long time. There are some great patterns out there, but I think this is one I will be able to use a lot to fill up my wardrobe. I have a big need for summer staples in my wardrobe... that aren't maternity, or jeans. I'm determined to wear more shorts this summer. I'll even shave my legs! Woo hoo! Summer goals.

Seriously, those legs need some sun. 

These shorts are so comfortable. The front waistband is flat with interfacing and the back has elastic. This means they are pull on with no buttons or zippers. And like I said, comfortable. 

I used stretch sateen for this floral pair of shorts. The pattern calls for flowy type of wovens (rayon challis, linen, peach skin...) This fabric had some flow but not quite as much as the recommended fabrics. I also have some stretch sateen in my stash that aren't flowy at all, so keep this in mind when fabric shopping. The more flow, the better these will drape. 

For my daughter, Kylie, I used linen for a pair of capris and rayon challis for a pair of shorts:

For these shorts, I made her take pictures right after school. She was very excited for the shorts, but not excited to take pictures. Haha, can you tell how forced her smile is? Lesson learned, no pictures right after school.

The linen was very easy to work with, the rayon challis, not as much. But using a lot of pins (something I normally get lazy about) helped and I absolutely love the result. I think I need to make myself a pair of rayon challis wide leg pants from this pattern next. It is so soft. 

Let's talk options.

My shorts: 6" inseam shorts, front pockets, omitted back pockets.

Kylie's capris: Capris with tulip hem, front and back pockets omitted.

Kylie's Shorts: 6" inseam shorts, front pockets, back pockets omitted.

Other options included in women's pattern: wide leg or palazoo (wider than the wide leg) widths included for the capris and full length pants which can be hemmed straight, with a split hem or tulip hem. There are also two lengths of shorts, 9" or 6" inseam which can be cuffed or straight hemmed. Optional front and back pockets are included.

The options for the girls are the same except for there only being one width for the pants and capris and the shorts have a 4" or 6" inseam option.

I love the tulip hem!

This was one of the first versions done in testing, it still fit and she will wear these, but the rise was made taller and the hips were let out a little in the final version. The shorts were made from the final version and fit wonderfully!

I'm envisioning a pair of full length summer pants with a tulip hem for myself.

As for the front pockets, I love how they are assembled! Although there are two distinct front pockets (duh), they are assembled as one piece, which creates a nice flat front. I didn't have any gaping issues with these pockets as can sometimes be an issue with front pockets. They layed very nicely and the one piece seemed to help hold my tummy in a bit (or maybe I'm crazy, I don't know. Like I said multiple times, these are comfy, ha!)

The inside of the pants/shorts, capris with front pocket. I'm telling you, I love this pocket design.

The pockets from the outside. By the way, the back rise is higher than the front rise as a good fitting pair of pants should be, this is just how I layed them down to take a picture. 

Like other Love Notions patterns, the tutorial is very well written, and the pattern assembly is easy with layers (only print your size) and no trim pages. There is also a troubleshooting guide for how to get your pants to fit correctly since we all know we are all sized differently and we all want our pants to fit well. The pattern itself went through several revisions during testing, so you know you are getting a good base pattern, but the troubleshooting guide is very handy if you need to make personal adjustments.

Hopefully I will be back soon with some more pictures from pants and/or shorts from this pattern. Definitely some pants for those days I don't keep up with my summer goals and don't shave my legs.

In the meantime, here are a few more pictures of the ones I just shared:

By the way, these two patterns (girls' and women's) are on sale until this Friday. You can bundle them for a bigger discount. If anything, at least look at the pretty pictures on the listing. I'm drooling over some of those beautiful pants! Click on the links in the text to check them out.

The grey shirt and red shirt in this blog post are also made from Love Notions patterns. They are slightly modified from the "La Bella Donna" pattern you can find on the same website. I have made so many versions of this shirt pattern, I will blog about it too someday... hopefully!