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

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

Sew Cargo Crazy - The First Pair Simplicity 5102

Good afternoon Everyone!

These photos were taken minutes before posting my review of my first pair of cargo pants for the July Sew Cargo Crazy challenge.  Remember, last month I shared that my friend, Rhonda Buss of Rhonda Creative Life, and I will be sewing cargo pants like crazy using Simplicity S5102.

Yesterday morning, I went to my sewing studio to sew on the waistband and hem my pants all in an effort to have the pictures taken before my DD left for work.  Needless to say, I didn't finish in time.  So this morning we were out taking picture by 10:30am.  And it felt like 100 degrees in a sauna.  The humidity must be 100%.  Not the best day to be outside for a photo shoot.  Tee Hee!

Anyway, today is a great day to post my first pair of cargo pants.  For week one, I made View C with minor changes.

This pattern is vaguely described as misses' pants in two length and mini skirt. Thank God for pictures.  The illustration shows a much better description of what the pants look like.  It's comes in sizes 4 to 18.  Unfortunately, it is out of print, but I think you can find it at Amazon.com or on Etsy if you are interested. 

For my pants, I used size between 14 and 16.  And they are a little tighter than I like to wear my pants.  For the next pair I'll make size 16 for sure.

I really like all the design elements of all the views.  My only dislikes are that the pants zip in the center back, my favorite view is cropped, and there is no waistband.  Front fly zipper is my preferred closure,  and ankle length pants look better on me.  And cargo pants look better with a waistband, at least, to me.

Other changes:

• With the front fly zipper, I decided to add a curved waistband.  No need to draft one.  I just used the waistband from McCall 5818.  I extended it a little to include a two button closure.
• I machine sewed a 1.5" hem instead of finishing the hem with elastic.

My fabric is from Mood Fabrics:   Rag and Bone Dried Herb Mercerized Cotton Twill, #307312.  Great fabric to work with and is available.  Mood is having a 4th of July Weekend sale.  So it's $8.39 per yard instead of $11.99.

My next pair of cargo pants will have a few design changes.  I hoping to style them closer to the Mood Inspiration picture.

I took this picture in the garage for better lighting on the color.

The Sew Cargo Crazy challenge continues.  week two.

Have a great weekend!
C

Simplicity Cargo Pants S5102 - A Little Challenge Among Friends

• Fabric Selected CHECK
• Pattern View Selected CHECK
• Friend To Sew The Challenge CHECK
• More Friends Can Join The Challenge _________________

Rhonda and I liked the Mood inspiration pants so much, we decided to do a little cargo pant challenge.   The pattern that we will use is Simplicity S5102.  It's out of print, but is still selling at some online pattern site.  If you like, you may join us.  Again, this is something that we thought to do for fun.

Our little challenge includes four cargo projects:  three pants and one skirt.  Each Friday (beginning July 5th), we will do a blog post featuring the finished project. The post will include a review of the pattern and the sewing process.   And of course some pictures of the finished project.  

• Week 1 - Any cargo pants view of Simplicity 5102.
• Week 2 - Use any cargo pants view and add some detail that you like.  For example, the lower leg zipper up the front of the inspiration pair above.  Really it can be from a inspiration photo or a pair of pants that you already own
• Week 3 - Another view of the cargo pants.  Again, something special that suits your own personal taste and style.
• Week 4 - Make a cargo skirt view of Simplicity 5102.

So we will have four weeks of showcasing our cargo projects.  Rhonda and I will also post on Instagram and in some Facebook sewing groups. Those posts will include the #sewcargocrazy and #sewcargo.  Please join us if you like.  It will be fun. 

Happy Sewing!
C

Inspiration: Cargo Pants

After returning home from SewCamp, immediately I started to reorganize sewing projects for the summer.  Part of that process is to gather some inspiration for the ideas that I could possibly incorporate in them.

Mood Inspiration Cargo Pants

Way back in May, Mood sent an email newsletter featuring the cutest cargo pants.  Then Rhonda posted it again on Instagram expressing how much she liked them.  She also posted on her blog an inspiration post for our cargo pant challenge.  We talked about doing a possible cargo pants challenge shortly after the Mood email.  I suggested Simplicity 5102.   I made them during the Summer of 2011, pictured above.  I need some new ones. :-)   (BTW- There will be a SewCamp post soon.)

So today, I wanted to feature some so cute cargo pants on my blog.

More to come on ideas and project for new cargo pants.

Happy Sewing!
C