Ottobre 06/2012-13: Onni jeans as cords

When this winter's issue of Ottobre came last week, I didn't even bother putting it away. I knew I needed to make the elastic waist jeans for Logan. He just had a major growth spurt and suddenly all his pants are high waters. Not cool. But pants for Logan can be a bit of a challenge. As in, storebought isn't an option. He hates anything on his waist that might bind or scratch, like a button, stable waistband or really anything that isn't a basic elastic waist. If I didn't sew, he would wear sweatpants 24/7.

I love Ottobre, but in Logan's size (now 116) there just aren't a whole lot of options for an elastic waist pant, which is why I jumped on this pattern, #13 from the 06/2012 issue. The details are great, but won't be a problem for my sensitive guy. Although Ottobre says that it is designed as a plus size pattern, I think perhaps these are meant to be a plus size slim pant, so they work well as a relaxed fit jean on an average sized child.

The fabric is a wide wale cotton corduroy from Joann. It's a little on the thin side, so I don't suspect these will wear very well, but it is very soft and Logan likes it. If the pattern is a win, I'll try it out again in something a little sturdier.

The pattern includes all the jeans style details. There are even belt loops, a coin pocket and rivets, although I omitted them here. The front fly is faux, but topstitched just like "real" jeans. The waistband is basically just a casing for the elastic, but it is a separate piece and is topstitched down. Since the corduroy has a pretty high pile and is a bit bulky, I decided to make the waistband in 2 pieces so that I could face it with a thin cotton.

In back there are typical jeans pockets, which I didn't embellish. Most of the RTW corduroy pants I looked over had plain back pockets, so I went with that. Topstitching wide wale corduroy is a bit dodgy anyway, so I was glad to not have to attempt it here. There is also a back yoke with pretty minimal shaping. It is cut on the cross grain, which looks particularly cool in the cord. I even managed (by complete chance) to match the wales across the yoke pieces. Woo hoo!

Logan's favorite part is the sneaky peek of Lightning McQueen in the pockets. Mater is in there as well, just a little deeper. Overall, I am pretty happy with this pattern, although I will say that I didn't find it to be as perfectly drafted as your typical Otto pattern. Now, perhaps this was a tracing or seam allowance error on my part, but I found the side seams didn't line up by about 1/2 inch at the top. I ended up just trimming off the excess length from the yoke, and it wasn't a big deal, but if you make this, do be sure to match your side seams based on the notches and hem edge, or you may end up with a twist in the leg.