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

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

Another Sew Camp Project - McCall 7890 - View C

I wanted to plan my projects for this SewCamp experience.  I attempted to prepare by completing all steps pre-sewing before arriving at the Carriage Corner B&B.  I selected fabric and patterns, cut the patterns out and made fit adjustments, cut and sewed some muslins before bagging everything into individual ZipLoc bags.  Sounds good, right?

But even with all the prep work, there is still a chance of something not working out.  In this case, it was more my selection of fabric.  The second problem was way too much added for the FBA.  The first fabric was a nice medium weight denim.  It was too stiff and really not the best fabric for this dress.  With regards to the FBA, I actually made a muslin before cutting into my fashion fabric.  From that I just saw a few little tweaks.  The muslin fabric was lighter and softer.  The pleats worked just fine in the muslin fabric.

Now let's fast forward to SewCamp.  I'm at the sewing machine, ready to start making this cute dress.  I put the front and back together pieces together and finished the seams hong kong seam binging style.  So at this point, I'm ready to try it on.   The front of the dress was a hot mess with fabric bulging out in the bust area. So I tried and tried to make it better.  No good.  Next, I changed the pleats to gathers.  Still, no joy.  After hours of trying to make it work, I decided to move on to something else.

The next day, I only spent a little time on the denim dress before I decided to try making it in another fabric.  I purchased a medium light weight twill at JoMar shortly after arriving in Philadelphia.  I started out with the idea of making gathers instead of pleats and reducing the FBA even more. 

In the end, I was able to complete View C of this pattern.  So after that long story, let me give you some of the typical pattern review information.  So here goes.

McCall m7890

Pattern Description: Fitted tunic and dresses have asymmetrical button-front opening with band, double yoke, slightly dropped shoulder and shaped hem with length and sleeve variations. A, B: Elasticized sleeve. D:Purchased bias tape for armhole.

Pattern Sizing:  Available in sizing 6 to 22; I used size 16 with modifications.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, it did.

Were the instructions easy to follow? There was nothing confusing in the instructions or the construction of the garment.  My problems were with the fit and with the pleats.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? 

Likes:

• Asymmetrical button-front opening
• Sleeve of view C; something different.  I could use it in other garments.
• Side slits and back yoke
• Pleats.  I really wanted them to work for me.  Maybe in a lighter fabric.

Dislikes

• Pleats.  Grr..,
• The upper part of the front band.  It gapes open a bit even on the model on the envelope.  I shorten it about 1/2", but that wasn't enough.

Fabric Used: First fabric used was a denim from Mood.  The second fabric, pictured here is a medium/light weight twill that I purchased at JoMar's in Philly.  It has just a little stretch in it.  My original plan was to make a circle skirt out of it.  But oh well.  I have some other textiles that I can use for that project.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: My pattern alterations were a messy FBA, a swayback adjustment with a center back seam and to shorten the upper front band by 1", a half on each side.  With my back adjustments there is still a few wrinkles across my back.  My only design change was from pleats to gathers on the upper front.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?  I have a gingham that I thinking about trying.  Maybe the third version will be perfect.  And yes, I recommend it to others.  Each of us has different fit issues.  So that's something that always has to be worked out.  Some may have to work a little harder  than others to make it work.  But, it's not a difficult dress to make.

Conclusion: All was not lost.  I think I ended up with a decent dress, not perfect, but wearable.  BTW- My first attempt at making the dress didn't completely go to waste.  I gave it to Gaylen.  She has a little one (grand-daughter) that she can make something for.

That's it for now.  I do have a few more pattern reviews.  And I want to, at least, post a mini review of the first six months of 2019.

Happy Sewing!
C