Sew Cargo Crazy - Cargo Pants and Skirt The Final Chapter - Simplicity 5102

This is the final post for my Sew Cargo Challenge!  It was so much fun.  All four cargo projects were made with Mood Fabrics.  For my last two cargo projects, I used Marine Blue Organic Cotton Twill  for the cargo pants and the cargo skirt is a floral denim that I purchased in 2017 during a visit to the New York Mood store.  You can see the denim in the stack of fabric below, the third one from the top:

Both textiles yield fantastic results being easy to press and manipulate.  In some cases I could fold and crease with my hand.  The marine blue is so vibrant and bold.  A great stand up color.  Luckily, this is one of 16 fabulous colors.  There is something for everyone.  No worries about this one being out of stock.  It's a reorder fabric that is rarely out of stock.

As for the cute floral stretch denim, it's a designer closeout fabrics.  If you like the idea of a floral denim skirt, click here to check out some lovely options.

Now for the deets on my final two projects, Simplicity 5102 Sew Cargo Challenge.


These last two were for my DD.  When I told her about the challenge, she didn't hesitate to let me know that she'd like a pair of pants too! ;-).  Of course, I didn't mind.  To start, I continued using view C as my basic pant pattern extending the pant leg.  The fourth projects was the skirt view E, zipper pockets no trim at the bottom.

Pants - Changes:

• The upper pocket was extended about 2.5 inches for more storage room.  Rhonda mentioned making this change for her second pair, and I thought it was a good idea.  
• Added two more smaller pockets on top of the upper pockets.  This was more a design element vs. utilitarian feature.  But the pockets can hold some coins.
• Like my other two pair, I lengthen the pant leg and added a waistband with zipper fly.
• Added two buttons to the pocket lap one on each corner.
• For the hem believe it or not, I miscalculated the length.  When I first hemmed them, they were right at her ankle.  Too close to being "high-waters".  So I added length by creating a hem band similar to a neck band.  I finished the hem by stitching the hem band to the already folded original hem if that makes sense.  

That's it.  

Does she like them?  Of course she does.  For this photo shoot, she wore these "different" looking shoe boots.  Too much for me!  Tee Hee.  But they are just right for her.  Anyway, we took a few silly shots.  She claimed to test the durability and movement of the fabric.  Hmmm..,  Okay, now for the skirt.

Skirt - Changes:

• The decorative zippers used for it were purchased several years ago.  I was so happy to finally use them.  I created, of course, functional pockets.  This was another opportunity to "practice" welt pocket technique. I.e., making the rectangle window.
• One pocket was added to the back of the skirt.  
• Added an inch to the length.
• omitted the trim at the bottom of the skirt.

So, this is the conclusion of my projects for the Sew Cargo Challenge.  Rhonda and I had hoped that others would join us.  And I did notice on Instagram that a few sewists decided to make cargo pants using a different pattern designs.  That's great.  We hope to encourage and inspire others to sew and share they works.

You have to check out Rhonda's Sew Cargo posts.  For her second pair we used the same fabric but in different colorways.  Rhonda made some very interesting details to the pockets design.  She also added a beautiful trim along the side of the leg.  I love her idea and may try it for myself.

Rhonda's 2nd Pair - Made with Mood

It's always a pleasure and always fun to share my sewing adventures.

Parting Shots:  All four of my Sew Cargo Challenge projects.  All blog posts are here.


Happy Sewing!
C

Sew Cargo Crazy - The Second Pair Simplicity 5102

Good morning everyone!

I'm a few days late with this post on the second pair of cargo pants.  But nevertheless.., 

It has been so much fun doing the Mood inspired cargo pants challenge with my friend, Rhonda!

We are in week 2 of our little "Sew Cargo" Challenge.  If you have been following my blog, Rhonda and I decided to do a cargo pants sew challenge for the month of July.  This challenge came about during a conversation about a newsletter emailed that we received from Mood featuring a cute pair of cargo pants.  We decided to use Simplicity 5102 to make three pants and one skirt.

Our first pair were featured on our respective blogs last Saturday.  Now, for this week we decided to spice it up a little.  Starting with our fabric.  We both selected stretch cotton twill from Mood:  for Rhonda - #326441-Navy on Arona Blue Bricks Printed Stretch Twill; for me #324496 Moonlight and Traupe Gray Block Printed Stretch Twill.  I love working with this fabric, and it is perfect for cargo pants.  Cargo pants are all about the pockets.  And you can never have too many when your hiking along a sight seeing trail or attending a summer neighborhood festival. Lots of places to store things to keep your hands free.  So why not add a few more pockets.  This time with zippers.  Like the inspiration pair, I also added zippers to the lower center front.  My zippers are functional.  The leg zippers can be unzip for a wider leg or zipped to make them tapered.

Again, I used View C of the pattern making the changes below:

• Added a waistband
• Added a front fly
• Lengthen the pant leg
• Tapered legs  from the hip to the hem
• Added 1" to the width of the upper front pocket.  I forget to mention this in my first review.

 

This cargo pant pattern is a winner!  Did I say that before?  Lol  I love it and will definitely make these again after the challenge is over.

BTW - Mood has truck loads of stretch twill available. 

If you are interested in my process for adding the zippered pockets and the pant leg zippers, check out my blog post, here.

Parting Shots:  It was a beautiful day in Veteran's Park.  Lovely flowers and everything is so lush and green.  The turtles were even sun bathing.

I am very happy with how my second pair of cargo pants turned out. The print of the fabric and the zipper detail make these pants pop.  Another great thing about them, there is secure pockets in the front as well as in the back.   For next week, I'll make a pair of cargo pants for my DD.  So stay turned.

Happy Sewing!
C

Vogue Skinny Leg Pants 8859 - The Third is a Charm/TNT

I made my first pair in 2017 (pictured above) and never posted a review.  I basically wear this pair around the house.  They are the best for working out-doors  especially in the fall and winter.  Why I never posted, I can't say.  But since I made my third pair at sew camp, it was about time to talk about how great these pants are.

Vogue 8859 

This is a Marcy Tilton Vogue pattern (OOP).  Vogue describes it as close fitting pants that has elastic waist, three construction methods for pleats in knew area, back yokes/pockets, and stitched hems.  The suggested fabrics are two-way stretch knits and stretch wovens.  Sizes 8-22.  I used a 16 with a few minor modifications.

These are super easy to make taking only about 1.5 hours to finish. The instructions very easy to follow.  Nothing confusing in them. 

What I like most about them is that they are not your typical pull-on legging pants.  They are sturdy and have some attractive details:  tucks, back pockets and yoke.  Love them and because I've made them three times, the pattern is now stored in the TNT basket atop of the other patterns that I own.

Below are pictures of all three pants side by side.  The Fabrics I used for each:

• Heather Purple double knit from Vogue Fabrics
• Marcy Tilton ponte knit from her online store
• Teal scuba knit from FabricMart purchased during sewcamp 

I enjoyed making each of them for different reasons:

• As I said, the purple ones are for working out-doors in fall/winter season. 
• The Black ponte knit ones were part of my beefing up the wardrobe.  The medium weight fabric allows me to wear them in spring, fall and part of the winter seasons.  
• The most recent pair, were made in between two dress projects started at sew camp.  They helped me through the challenges of the McCall's 7890 dress.  The other dress I haven't completed.  

I made only a few minor changes:  I extended the hook on the back pant leg about 3/4" and I lengthen them about four inches.  Because the back has three pieces:  yoke, upper back and lower back, I added  length to both upper and lower back pant legs so that the joining seam at the knee will fall where it should.  For each I did different top-stitching.  For the black I drafted a lower leg for the front and back repeating the same top-stitching.

I really like the comfort and style of these close fitting "legging" like pants.  I can see myself making them in several colors.  Try them if you have the pattern.  So, that's all for now.

Happy Sewing!
C

Zipped Pockets and Pant Leg - Sew Cargo Crazy - Tutorial

I wanted to post a little tutorial on how I made the zipped pockets for my second pair of cargo pants.  


Zipped Pockets -

It was so easy to add the pocket zipper detail.  Here's how:  

• First, I determined the length and width of the pocket and the zipper opening.  It's up to you on the size of the pocket.  I just cut some them and adjusted the width and length according to the area placed on the pants.  The front zipper is 6" and the back is 5".  
• Next creating the welt pocket window for the zipper.  I drew the rectangle on an interfaced "welt", about 2" longer than the zipper and 2.5" wide.  The height of the window is 1/2" with the cutting line in the middle, at the 1/4" point.
• I stitched on the drawn stitching line using machine stitch length at 2.  The stitching has to be exact with no back stitching.
• Slash along cutting line.  Turn the welt to the inside of the pocket. 
• Pressing is super important.  Open each of the long ends of the welt and press.  Then press the entire welt to the wrong side of the pocket.  You should have a nice rectangle opening for the zipper.  

• Evenly position the zipper from the wrong side of the pocket and pin it in place.

• Stitch the zipper in place.  I did two rounds of stitching to show up the contrasting thread.

• For the back pocket I added a stripe of fabric to the top using the wrong side of the fabric to create a contrast band. This creates the illusion of a top opening pocket.  It's actually stitched all the way around with the zipper being the actual opening.

• The final step is to secure the zipped pockets to the pants.
• *Note before I was happy with the opening of the pockets, I practiced a few times just to make sure. ;-)

Front Lower Leg Zipper -

These were added to emulate the inspiration pants.  I like the idea of being able to adjust the width of the pant.  The leg zippers should be placed and sewn before the front and back pant legs are sewn together.

• First, I had to determine the length of the pants.  To prevent them from bunching up, the hem should be at the ankle or shorter.  The top of the zipper is at the edge of the hem.
• Next, I marked the front center of the pant leg with pins the length of my zipper.
• Using the marked front center, starting at the lower edge each zipper tape is placed an inch apart (each 1/2" from the center).  For the opposite end of the zipper, it's is 2" apart (each 1" from the center).  Each side is pinned in place.
• Finally, sew two rows of stitches to secure zipper to the pants.  Now the front and back pant legs can be sewn together.

I hope this was helpful.  Stay tuned.  My next pair of cargo pants will post soon.

Happy Sewing!
Cennetta