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Ball pockets upside down on tennis shorts Kwik sew - pattern, should they really be that way?
Johanna Lu   Advanced SWEDEN Member since 11/3/03 Posts: 280	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 6/4/08 11:53 AM I am making a pair of tennis shorts from Kwik sew 3341. The shorts has pockets for tennis balls, but they are upside down! With an elastic sewn into the edge (to keep the balls from falling out perhaps?) I've only played tennis for a year and a half, and hasn't bought or examined any tennis clothes yet. Is this a common solution on tennis shorts? ------ http://thelaststitch.blogspot.com
lilyofthevalley   Advanced NY USA Member since 3/9/07 Posts: 1478	Login to reply to this post In reply to Johanna Lu Like this post Date: 6/4/08 12:22 PM Quote: Johanna Lu I am making a pair of tennis shorts from Kwik sew 3341. The shorts has pockets for tennis balls, but they are upside down! With an elastic sewn into the edge (to keep the balls from falling out perhaps?) I've only played tennis for a year and a half, and hasn't bought or examined any tennis clothes yet. Is this a common solution on tennis shorts? Johanna, Yes, this is the common method that RTW tennis shorts (under-shorts) configure the ball pocket. And yes, the 'plan' is that you put the tennis ball into that little pocket and the elastic keeps it from falling out. In reality, I (and most tennis players) just stick the tennis ball in the under-shorts between the fabric and your thigh. So, when I make tennis under-shorts, I just skip the little ball pocket entirely. But if you choose to make and use the ball pocket, make it as your illustration shows. --Lily ------ Lily
Linda E. Beginner OK USA Member since 4/23/02 Posts: 2678	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 6/4/08 12:25 PM here is some RTW ones like that ------ Linda E. "Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." Anna Freud "Inspiration will always sing; inspiration will never explain" Kahlil Gibran
Johanna Lu   Advanced SWEDEN Member since 11/3/03 Posts: 280	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 6/4/08 12:56 PM Lily and Linda, thank you for your swift replies! Very assuring, at first when I saw the lines for the pocket placement I thought that the pattern was drafted wrong. I am curious to see if I will like these pockets. I did a first attempt at tennis shorts a month ago, just improvising and they didn't work at all, too wide and the whole mesh fabric in-seam pocket went out every time I picked a ball from them. I was soo annoyed with them the whole time I played. Now I hope for better luck, using a proper tennis short pattern. ------ http://thelaststitch.blogspot.com
LauraTS   Advanced Beginner CA USA Member since 7/10/06 Posts: 1956	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 6/4/08 5:55 PM It's a lot faster to put balls in and out of an elasticized pocket with the opening at the bottom, than a regular pocket. They really do work well, if you get the size and elastic right. That's the way all of my RTW tennis undershorts used to be made. ------ I've moved! Visit my new sewing blog at http://chiralcraft.wordpress.com Do you sew from KnipMode? Join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/knipmode_english/
cgHipp   Beginner SC USA Member since 11/8/06 Posts: 872	Login to reply to this post In reply to lilyofthevalley Like this post Date: 6/4/08 8:14 PM Quote: lilyofthevalley In reality, I (and most tennis players) just stick the tennis ball in the under-shorts between the fabric and your thigh. So, when I make tennis under-shorts, I just skip the little ball pocket entirely. But if you choose to make and use the ball pocket, make it as your illustration shows. --Lily Same here - the pockets aren't worth the bother. It's so much easier to tuck the ball under the edge of the shorts. I keep meaning to rip them out of the shorts I have them in. ------ I rip what I sew.
Johanna Lu   Advanced SWEDEN Member since 11/3/03 Posts: 280	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 6/5/08 4:21 AM Laura and cgthipp, thanks for your takes on the pockets. The suggested elastic tension was to loose and the balls fell out, so I had to make it more tight. Hopefully I got it right. I will test drive them on Saturday and then review the shorts since the there are only reviews of the skort version of this pattern on PR. ------ http://thelaststitch.blogspot.com
ryan's mom PA USA Member since 11/30/04 Posts: 4371	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 6/5/08 6:55 AM Thanks for posting this pattern #/thread. I will show this to DD#1, although she is such a clothing snob. I told her about the tennis shorts/skorts and rebuffed me when I mentioned something about making them. She's going to tennis camp in two weeks and has been checking out tennis apparel online. Maybe she'll come around to mom making some of these. ------ Big 4 Pattern size 12, RTW bottom: 6, RTW jacket 8, RTW top (no size fits me well!) Measurements: 34 HB/36 FB (34C bra)/27.5/36 (and working hard to keep it that way.) Machines: Sewing (Janome Memory Craft 3000 and Kenmore 158 Series machine), Serger (Babylock Imagine), Embroidery (Janome 300E) If you think your sewing is better than everyone else's around here, get out of my way b****. I hate sewing snobs. My blog: www.phatchickdesigns.blogspot.com
jhansby Advanced CA USA Member since 1/9/05 Posts: 331	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 6/5/08 7:30 PM concur with the others....this is a standard ball pocket, although I also prefer to just tuck the ball under my shorts...the pockets show "bumps" on the tighter fitting shorts....my fav Nike skirts have no pockets. I do have a tennis friend though whose legs get irritated from the ball so she has to have ball pockets.
lilyofthevalley   Advanced NY USA Member since 3/9/07 Posts: 1478	Login to reply to this post In reply to ryan's mom Like this post Date: 6/5/08 8:43 PM Quote: ryan's mom Thanks for posting this pattern #/thread. I will show this to DD#1, although she is such a clothing snob. I told her about the tennis shorts/skorts and rebuffed me when I mentioned something about making them. She's going to tennis camp in two weeks and has been checking out tennis apparel online. Maybe she'll come around to mom making some of these. Ryan's Mom, Knowing that teens are pretty hard to persuade and with no attempt to serve as her role model (at all!), I hope she'll give you a chance to 'show your stuff.' Please tell her that I played USTA tennis for many years and played on teams that often went as far as Nationals. Naturally, I made all my own tennis clothes and for two consecutive years, made the outfits for my entire team (with lots of measuring and cutting help from team members). Often, in very contentious matches, the only kind words exchanged across the net were those of (some of) our competitors admiring our tennis outfits and asking which manufacturer produced them. At our 2nd year at Nationals, one of the apparel manufacturers asked us to pose for a team picture - not for the excellence of our tennis, but for the style of our clothes. As for you (should she concede), I know that you have occasional access to the NY garment district. Many, many of the small jumbled shops on 39th and some on 38th street carry end-of-the-roll quantities of the Genuine fabrics of the top apparel manufacturers - particularly Nike. Look in the back of the shops on the skinny rolls near the floor level. Dirt cheap, also dirt 'dirty' but wonderful treasures - particularly for a teen who probably wants *exactly* what all the other girls are wearing. Hope this works for you, and her. The cost of tennis apparel is criminal, and your sewing/designing skills are far in excess of those creating the mundane offerings seen on most courts. --Lily ------ Lily

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