Ottobre 03/2006-12

The KCWC is going great so far! Thanks to my sweet hubby, I have managed to sew at least an hour each day and I have caught up from missing Monday, so that is great. I just finished the most complicated of the projects I have planned for the week - Duncan's cargo shorts.

The pattern is Ottobre 03/2006-12, which is the same pattern that I used for his Easter shorts. This time, you can actually see all of the cool details, since I used a high contrast thread for topstitching.

The front has a nonfunctional fly, which is tacked down with decorative bar tacks. There are hip pockets, also topstitched, which are fully functional. For these I used a tip from Sandra Betzina's Power Sewing and cut out the pocket bags with the pocket opening on the straight grain, which puts the pocket bag on the bias. This gives you a nice stable pocket opening that won't stretch out of shape as well as a bit of give in the pocket itself.

From the side you can see the cute cargo pocket that I didn't use on the dressier pair. The pocket has little darts at the lower corners that add fullness. I used a square of velcro as a closure. Don't all boys love velcro? Rrrrrrip! I also added a couple of appliques from the Mater tee shirt fabric. Since they're knit, I just stitched them on without finishing the edges. Boy clothes are fun like that.

On the back, there are plain patch pockets. I added another small applique to one. All of my topstitching was done with a twin needle on my vintage Singer. She had a bit of trouble sewing this fabric at first, which is unlike her. I realized about halfway through that the presser foot pressure was turned up from 4 to 7. No wonder she was pulling on the fabric so hard! Once I lightened that up, she did fine. I pivoted the corners with my twin needle using this tutorial.

The fabric I used is a stretch twill that I think came from Hancock. It's been in the stash a while. It has a nice bit of stretch, which I hope makes these comfy. I've a coordinating pair for Logan cut out, and should have that to show you soon.