3 - The Dauphine Short - Waistband Options / Before Cutting

There are two options in waistband and zipper fly finishing.

A waistband will either cover the upper fly guard OR the waistband will finish where the fly guard starts.

For these shorts, I opted to have the waistband finish where the fly guard starts, to reduce bulk around the waist. The shorts are designed for a thicker, more stable fabric, and the layers can start to build up quickly.

I have made both versions - the pink zipper has the original method and the blue zipper is the extended version.

I’ve included the simple, pattern adjustment needed, should you wish to extend the waistband.

Sewers choice!

We will cover both construction methods as we sew, but you’ll need to decide on a method before cutting your fashion fabric.

SEWING THE ORIGINAL WAISTBAND OPTION:

Waistband pieces - 16 and 17

16 -right side, is our fly guard piece

17 - left side, is our waistband overlap and is slightly longer.

These remain as is, and need no changes.

But as we will be leaving our fly guard open at the top, we do need to finish the edge seam before starting the zipper section.

To do this, fold your fly guard in half and sew the top at 5/8”. Trim, turn right sides out and press.

The finished top edge will line up with the waist on piece 2 when we begin our zipper construction.

SEWING THE EXTENDED VERSION:

We need to add an extension of 2” to the edge of pattern piece 16, in order to create enough length to cover the guard.

As you can see, the additional 2” will cover the fly guard and give us the extra seam allowance for finishing.

And because we are encasing the end of the fly guard in the extended waistband, we don’t need to close the edge before sewing. Just fold it in half, and selvedge the long edge.