Damn It!!

All my crafting seems to be going horribly horribly wrong recently. I started a skirt for my niece, on the sewing machine, which threw a hissy fit a died on me with only one... ONE!!! straight line left to go.

Today I attempted a pair of shorts for DS with the pattern here which turned out... squiffy? the piece that goes up his tummy was several inches too high, but that was fixable. But the legs are too slim for him, and kinda a strange shape. Also, I didnt have a spare tea-towel so I measured an in-use teatowel and cut out of a piece of spare fabric I had. I dont know if that had anything to do with it. And also, the pattern isnt much of a pattern, more an idea. I wasn't sure exactly how/where to cut the lines. Measurement may have been helpful. I'm thinking of deconstructing a pair of existing cheap trousers and drawing around them.