Throwback Thursday: Gwen Stefani – Space Shorts Outfit

I’m trying to catch up with past makes that I photographed but never posted. This week I bring you the Gwen Stefani Space Shorts Outfit. I made this last July for the Gwen Stefani concert in Chicago (and I wore it to the Cincinnati show too). The outfit was inspired by Gwen’s appearance on the SNL skit “Mafia Meeting” with Peter Dinklage:

After searching forever I finally found the same exact fabric that was used for Gwen’s shorts and Peter’s pants. It was from Fabric.com but I ordered it through Amazon: Elizabeth’s Studio In Space Solar System Black Fabric. Unfortunately it isn’t available anymore.

At the time of making this my measurements were 36-31-40. I made 2 different versions of the top, one low cut and one with the mock turtleneck. The fabric for the top was a performance knit from Jo-Ann Fabric and the pattern was the Layer Me Up Shirt from Patterns For Pirates. (Ignore my awful neckband.)

The mock turtleneck was pretty simple, I just cut 2 backs instead of 1 front/1 back of the shirt pattern. I then measured around my neck and measured how high I wanted it to be. I doubled the height so I could fold it over and added 1 inch to the width and used a 1/4″ seam allowance. Then I just sewed it onto the shirt neck hole. I don’t remember having difficulties at all. My biggest issue was that this shirt was HOT in July!

The pattern was super simple but keep in mind this has a lot of negative ease and is skin tight – hence the “layer me up” part. I typically wear a size Medium bust/hips and graded to Large in the waist but this time around I made XL-2XL-XL graded.

For the bottoms I used Gertie’s Butterick 6354 and made a 16 at the waist graded to a 12 on the hips. According to the sizing on the envelope I was between a 16 and 18 on the waist and 16 on the hips. I made some changes to these to get them to look just like Gwen’s. I removed width from the hips, took the crotch in, lowered waist 1/2″ and added length. In the end I think they look pretty spot-on!!

These shorts are really comfortable and the cotton is perfect for the hot summer days. I’ve worn these a couple of times since the concert.

BONUS: Nico Space Shorts Outfit! Yes, I’m that crazy Mom who had her child match her at a concert. Also, yes, I took him with me – BABY’S FIRST CONCERT! We had so many people stop and compliment our outfits and people taking pictures of us. Nico LOVED all the attention! He went to the Chicago show with me and my Mom (don’t worry – he had ear muffs on) and had a blast. He loves Gwen and the whole time he was awake he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. We were 2nd row and to the side, so he had a great view and she came over a few times and smiled at him. He ended up falling asleep halfway through but seemed to have a great time before that!

Oh and this happened!

For Nico’s outfit I used Brindille & Twig’s Basic Tee and I think a self drafted pattern for the shorts, I honestly can’t even remember. But, if you have a child and don’t have the Basic Tee you should buy it ASAP, I’ve used it about 100 times already!

I’ve been re-creating Gwen’s outfits for the last 20 years – how crazy! I’ll probably continue for the next 20 haha! Here are a few I’ve already blogged about: Gwen Stefani tags.

(Sorry about the poor quality of photos and if the writing is all over the place – it’s taken me 2 hours to post this because every 5 seconds Nico needs a snack, or water, or has boogers, or lost his bike – oh Mom life!)