Pimp My Boardshorts: No More Velcro! (Part I)

Finally, it's become warm enough to be able to wear boardshorts around here. For me, I love to wear men's boardshorts since the women's versions are too short for me. Plus, men's boardies come in all sorts of crazy prints, so the crazier, the better for me. The fabric they've come out with now is absolutely incredible- it feels like wearing pajamas.

My fricken favorite pair right now is these Quiksilver Editions I picked up from the local outlet store. The downside is, it had all sorts of stiff Velcro in the fly and on the side pocket. Blech. I hate Velcro on boardshorts- it snags in the wash and it pokes me in the stomach when I'm paddling. So, I decided to give these shorts a bit of a makeover.

Upon closer inspection, you can see what I can't stand: Velcro in the crotch!

Aargh!!! Velcro!

I used a seam ripper to remove the Velcro- the majority was pretty easy, until I got to the very bottom where the fly came together. 

Almost all the Velcro out, except at the very bottom

I could have just cut straight across he bottom and left the rest of the Velcro encased in the stitching in the fly. Instead, I removed the anchor stitching on the front of the fly and took out ALL of the Velcro:

The anchor stitching on the bottom of the front of the fly.

I'm removing the stitches.

Tough job, but worth it.

Next, I tackled the Velcro on the pocket:

You can even see where the inner pocket is snagged on the Velcro!

For shame!

I had a thought at this point- for those who are new to seam rippers, here's a few tips:

When I start to remove the Velcro, I start on the Velcro side and use the sharp point to find the stitch to break it. Be careful not to stab the fabric:

I'm starting on the outside track of stitching first.

Once that stitch is broken, you should be able to start to separate the Velcro from the fabric. At this point, I took my seam ripper (with the ball tip side down) into the seam and moved the ripper forward along the seam between the Velcro and the fabric:

With the ball tip down in the seam,

this prevents any snags in the fabric

RIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPP!!!!!!!! Supa quick!

All that nice fluid fabric is finally free to move!

Ok- now, yeah, the Velcro issue is solved, but, the fly is open.

Yikes.

On some of my other fancy boardshorts, there's a nice solution I've found to take care of that, and I already have the materials here to recycle. Stay tuned for Part II!

Don't get me wrong....there's always great uses for Velcro.

On the bucket list

Deluxe Beach Cover Up DIY

Even though I've made a simple one of these beach cover-ups before, I wanted something a bit more substantial. I also wanted one that was a bit wider for getting into and out of my wetsuits easier. Wider. Yikes. I also wanted to put a hood on this one in case the wind is howling in the parking lot when I get out.
So, I procured a couple of big beach towels from the local outlet store. Outlet stores are the best for good towels- they're as cheap as Walmart, but last longer since they're made for a department store. Just don't get picky about what color/print/etc. For the hood, I went to the clearance bin and found a single hand towel with a funky fiesta print.

My beach towels are approximately 32" wide by 66" long

For this project, instead of sewing down each long side (which is over 5 feet long, remember), I'm going to make the side seams the short edges of the towel. 32 inches will be plenty long enough to cover me, but not so long that it will be difficult to change with.
First thing, I cut off any tags on the towel- I don't want to take the chance and sew over the extra bulk.

Nautica doesn't make these cover ups!

Next, I pinned (technically clipped) one of the long sides together with the LOOPY SIDE OF EACH TOWEL FACING OUT, and the groomed, soft sides together,. This seems a little weird, but the loopy side is the most absorbent. The other long side will be the bottom opening of the cover up when we turn it inside out. I pinned/clipped all the way across, but the middle 12 inches I marked off on each side with a yellow butterfly pin to tell me not to sew this part. This section will be the head opening:

The no sew zone. Gotta get my big head in there somehow.

For my project, my middle twelve inch opening for my head started about 27 inches from the outer edge.

Download it, rent it, whatever

On a side note- if you are getting into sewing for surfing, I recommend going to your library and picking up Sandra Betzina's More Fabric Savvy. It is a great reference for unusual fabrics, and since we're not at a freakin' quilting bee here, it's VERY useful.
Also, please note that in the sewing pics below I was using a walking foot. A lot of people shy away from these, and I don't know why. It takes about two seconds more to install than a regular presser foot, and, BOOM! huge difference in the feed of stuff like terrycloth, knits, neoprene, and other non-quilting-craft-cotton. Which leaves the fun stuff to sew. Try one!
Back to the good part....


So I used the finished edge on the towels as a seam guide. DO NOT try to sew or even fit this bulk of both finished edges under your machine! The needle WILL break, and you may do serious damage to the delicate machinery, or put an eye out, like Santa told you. I used a Heavy Universal needle (at least 90/14 or above) and set the machine for a straight stitch at 3.0 in length.

Sewing along the finished edge of the towel

Remember to not sew all the way across, or you wont leave a head opening! Also, don't try to sew the far edges together by machine. Either hand sew them together, or leave them as is, like I did:

Don't sew through that gnarly bulk! NOT worth it!

You don't have to do this part, but I wanted those seam allowances sewn down. I went back and put a simple wide, long, zig-zag stitch down each allowance, stopping at my mark for my "headhole". Remember, sew the part that's towel, NOT the finished edge (the finished edge is light blue here):

Opening the seam allowance and stitching down each edge until you get to the head opening

Zig-zag down each side- as long as your thread matches, it won't really show.

When I did get to the head opening, I split off one side and turned a seam over that matched the allowance I had been sewing before the split:

Starting the split

After doing the other side.

Neckline "Inside Out" with the seam allowances stitched down to minimize bulk.

Neckline turned right side out, finished.

Here, you can decide if you want to sew down each short side, leaving the top fold open down at least 12 inches for "sleeves". Originally, I left mine open on the sides, but I liked it better sewn up the sides.
At this point, I was ready to add my hood. Of course, you will have wanted to have measured your hand towel to make sure this works. For me, the hand towel I bought eased just fine around the 12" diameter neck. Here is the hand towel with the pink finished edge on just the short sides, the long sides had no additional bound edge:

 I folded the towel in half, the two pink bound edges together (loopy side OUT), pinning/clipping the top edge together. This top edge is what I'm going to sew, which will be the TOP of the hood:

Getting ready to sew the top edge by using clips instead of pins

I'm using the finished narrow edge as a seam guide when sewing.

Once that seam is finished, I pinned/clipped the bottom edge of the hand towel to the neckline of the big towel cover up. Make sure your seam will be on the INSIDE of the cover up once the hood is attached. Make sure you pin/clip A LOT, and SEW SLOWLY. It's not a race. It's probably flat out there, that's why you're reading this. No rush. Use a long stitch, and go back over it to secure:

The bottom of the hood took up almost the entire neckline. Perfect!

Sewing right inside the finished edge. Slowly.

Again, I don't try to sew over the thick ends- leave them open, and save your machine. If the bound ends have enough of an opening, thread a LONG shoestring through them and you can pull the hood a little bit closed (not too much, depending on how thick the binding is). That's it! Enjoy the pics!

Hood applied to the neckline, then turned right side out.

Front Side Finished

Back Side Finished

With a hood, it's easier to hang up to dry.

If Star Wars was in an "Alternate Lifestyle" Universe, this is the Obi Wan special. 

NOT a man bun, thank you very much.

Pimp my Rashguard DIY

Okay, so I've got a set of those fabric markers you can pick up at any craft store, or even at any big box store now. I remember the days when kids would use Sharpies to mark up their jeans and Keds with the Anarchy signs and "Non Conformist" graffiti just like everyone else. The irony was totally lost on the 6th graders. I just stuck with drawing "I heart Doogie Howser" on my binder. Yeah, that was a happy memory crasher when I became an adult....
Anyway, as an adult, and a surfer, I thought it would be fun to get artsy fartsy with one of my rash guards. I wanted to test if these markers would stay on Lycra and how they would draw.
I have two types of fabric markers (Tulip Brand and Sharpie Brand Fabric Markers), so I thought I'd try each on the rashguard to see if I'd get different results. I used a white rashguard and got some scrap cardboard to put between the layers of the rashguard in case of bleed though to the backside:

My supplies

For this project, I opted to use the black markers so they'd show up on the white. The marker tips are  definitely different as you can see:

The Tulip Brand Marker is on Top, the Sharpie Brand is on the Bottom

Drawing on Lycra is tricky. The fabric wants to pull against your marker, so it's important to draw slowly to avoid errant drags on your pictures.
First, I made a design on the shoulder and upper sleeve of the rashguard using the Tulip brand marker. Making lines was slow, but making dots was quite easy, of course. The ink really didn't bleed over itself, except were I got sloppy.

Next, I put a little matching design on the bottom right of the rashguard using the Sharpie Fabric Marker. The brush tip was more like a paintbrush, so it was tricky to get a crisp line, but could make a really flowy pattern, almost a watercolor design. However, these colors will bleed into one another, so keep that in mind.

Per the instructions, I allowed the images to dry completely for a full 24 hours.

Now, for the real test......

I washed this rashguard in the washing machine for 40 minutes on cold using liquid detergent. I even threw it in the dryer for 10 minutes just for fun.

Here's the verdict:

The area I drew with the Tulip marker came out great, with the black color very strong, with almost no fading, and no bleeding:

The area I drew with the Sharpie fabric marker faded significantly, but didn't bleed, at least:

I'm sure that any image drawn would fade over time, being exposed to the sun and saltwater, so make sure you make your images strong and make sure they stand out. A bit of fading would make for a desirable effect depending on the image you have in mind.

I guess I'm going to paint black stripes on the arms of my rashguards to make one of those crazy shark repellent thingies.

DIY Truck Tailgate Surfboard Pad from a Beach Chair

Some time ago, I found a discarded, broken beach chair sitting next to the trash on one of the beach crossovers. The chair was of no use anymore, but the seat material was still in decent shape. It's made of a heavy duty nylon with a waterproof backing material. That material can be pricey to buy, but here's some just being tossed out. So, I cut away the seat material (I did chuck the seat frame), and brought it back home to run it through the washer.
Here's the seat laid out:

Beach chair seat material

I thought it would work great for a tailgate pad on my husband's truck so I wouldn't get wax all over the tailgate anymore. I looked at the Thule tailgate pad as an inspiration.
I was able to get a good sized rectangle out of the seat material, around 13" by 22":

Rectangle cut from the seat material

For the underside of the pad, I cut another rectangle of the same size out of nylon flag fabric, leftover from my car rack pad project from a couple of weeks ago:

I made sure to overlock the raw edges of the blue nylon flag fabric, so the edges wouldn't fray.
Using 1" nylon webbing, I cut a 3 yard strip in half to use as the straps to go under the tailgate. I burned the cut ends with a lighter (outside!) so the webbing wouldn't fray out:

1" wide nylon webbing

From each 1 1/2 yard piece, I cut a small 6" length of webbing that I threaded through a parachute buckle and folded in half, then sewn onto the bottom of the seat material rectangle, 3 inches in from the edge, placed UPSIDE DOWN and facing inside (see first picture), since this entire piece will be sewn onto the flag fabric backing, and turned inside out. On the top side of the rectangle, I sewed the other two long pieces of webbing across from the buckle pieces (see second picture below).



To make strap to secure the tail to the pad and keep it from sliding back and forth on the tailgate, I used some leftover 1" nylon webbing in purple (sorry, that's the color I had!). I cut one piece about 15" long and secured a buckle piece to that end, and the other I left about a yard long with no buckle. I stitched the ends centered on the rectangle, as far in from the edges as the black straps, and in the middle of the rectangle. I sewed a square with an X inside to make sure the end of each piece was secure- I did not sew the webbing all the way to the outside edges- I wanted the straps to be free to come up and around the tail of the surfboard.

I'm ready now to put the flag fabric backing onto the piece. I gathered all the straps and made sure they stayed in the center, away from the edges, placed the flag fabric piece on top, and sewed around THREE sides only:

 



Since I left the side open, I can now turn the piece right side out:







 

Using some mildew resistant polyester 1" thick foam, I cut a rectangle a little smaller than the tailgate pad case and slid it inside the casing:



 

Once the foam batting was inside the casing, I folded the open edges in about 1/2 inch and stitched the rectangle closed:



I unbuckled the purple tail straps and ran three lines of stitching down the middle of the pad, going through all layers. This will keep the foam batting from moving around inside the casing.





Next, it was time to do a fit check with my fattest board, an SUP, and trim any major excess off of the webbing strips and singe them with a lighter to seal.

I installed it like the Thule instructions directed.

Here's the final fit:

 

 

 

 

 

Now I can use the Hubby's truck to do donuts in the middle of A1A without the board sliding around. Weeeeeeeeee!!!!!