Linen notes...

Just back from our vacation!  Two notes on the linen items I made:

The looser, elastic waist linen shorts I made using some sort of linen/rayon, loosely woven blend from Joann fabrics:  Back seam stretched at the serging pretty badly!  I just restitched it with a traditional machine, right beside the serging line.  I also probably just need a little bit more room in the seat, though.  I'll make a note of that and cut a slightly different width next time.  I did like them even more than I thought I would, although I want to do a couple lines of 3-step zigzag to stabilize the 1" elastic in its sheath.  As is, it twists a bit despite my stitching it down at the side seams.

White linen top - ripped in a spot at the back armhole!  I'd serged the armholes and I think that I sometimes have a problem keeping an even serge on curved seams like that.  The knife cuts and then it shifts by the time it gets to the needle.  This was an easy fix since it didn't fray much - I just stitched again with the serger (knife down) and it should be pretty stable now.  The shirt is very stained now since I wore the heck out of it on our trip.  It was my go-to no-sunburn top over everything as we hiked, biked and sat around watching kids on the beach.  Perfect fabric, and I actually like the fact that it looks a bit worn now.  I'll still give it a light bleaching, but I don't expect this to be a work shirt.

Brown, pleat-front linen shorts. I love these to death, except they are really about 1" too big for me in the waist.  Perhaps that is why I love them!?  I'm still considering unpicking the waistband at the side seams and taking it in a notch, but that is about 4 seams to redo so I'm a bit iffy on it.  They'd be significantly more attractive, though.  As is, they sink down to my hip bones in an uneven way and look pretty sloppy.