Sandbox Shorts

The other Oliver + S pattern that stops at size 8 that I didn't think would be high on my to-sew list was the Sandbox pants.

Yet suddenly I was itching to make a pair of shorts using the pattern. These preceded the Bedtime Story pyjamas in the sewing queue but appear here a bit later as I wrote a tutorial for the modifications for the Oliver + S blog. Click on the image below to go to the blog post:

I've only made the pants once before when I made two pairs in navy French terry for P to wear to school. They didn't prove to be his favourite pants and I don't think I kept them for A to wear, or maybe I did and she never chose to wear them anyway...

But these shorts? She adores them.

She saw an old photo of a Sunday Brunch Skirt in this same bubble gum pink fabric and said she'd like that, only shorts this time. Well I happened to have more of the same pink drill that had been gifted to me and was leftover in the stash,. Easy way to revisit another soon to be outgrown pattern.

I've made a straight size 8 and the few modifications are thus: Shortened to shorts length, curved the front pocket pattern pieces and added waistband elastic as well as the adjustable drawstring. The drawstring is just a supermarket shoelace but looks kind of cool even when it's not entirely necessary. The idea of having the pants only held up by a tied drawstring is a bit optimistic when it comes to kids pants, hence the elastic added to the ribbing waistband.

They're kind of perfect shorts and I'm glad I gave the pattern another outing. I know these will get heaps of wear and hopefully might still fit next summer.

Sometimes the best clothes and the best sewing experience are those that are quick, simple and thrown together from the stash and an old pattern. Very satisfying.

Pants, pants, pants, pants.....

Catching up a bit here by dropping no less than four pair of pants on the blog in one hit!

 

First up, three more pairs of navy (read: hard to photograph) school pants for P.

These first ones are the tried and true Oliver + S Field Trip Cargo pants.

 

 

I did all the edgestitching and topstitching, but since it's all navy, it's subtle. Nothing like those Team Australia (Oh, don't get me started on Tony again) pants that P's friend is wearing.

 

For a bit of something extra, I'm loving these iron-on faux rivets from Jimmy's buttons. They really look the business, but no complaints about scratchy metal bits on the inside.

 

Not only are there no scratchy bits, but the insides of these pants are so lovely to touch...

 

 

The fabric is a moleskin, which is undoubtedly meant to have this soft, brushed face on the outside. I talked it through with P and he definitely wanted the softness on the inside, and the more standard issue navy drill side on the outside. These super snuggly pants are his own little school uniform secret!

For the record, these are size 5, with about 3/4" length added at the bottom hem and the cargo pockets left off. No other mods and they fit perfectly.

The second pair of school pants is another pair of Sandbox pants in some more of the thick terry knit. I saved myself some trouble by not trying to flat fell every seam. The side seams are finished together and edge and topstitched and only the crotch seam is flat felled. So they look pretty much identical to the first pair but took half the time.

...and I used the genius suggestion from my blog commenter Rootaberger to use "one of those little plastic things that hold the string. You know, the ones you push down to loosen or tighten".

Well, I don't know if they have a name either (I'd guess at toggles) but I happened to have two on hand. I put one onto the original sandbox pants, and that definitely helps, but with these pants I went one step further: The elastic waistband on these ones goes all the way around and is fixed in length. The ties are stitched onto the elastic near the buttonhole outlets and thus are purely for decoration.

To make the navy pants production line a bit more interesting I busted out a new pattern for my third pair of pants:

 

These are the Figgy Banyan pants and it was my first ever time sewing a real zip fly. You know I took another photo of the pants as above, but slightly from the right, which hid that sticky out zip pull perfectly but was just a touch out of focus.

 

A close up from a better angle makes it look alright...

 

 



I found the pattern instructions were somewhat lacking when it came to the zipper insertion. I think there is a Figgy's photo tutorial and I know there are plenty of other tutorials on sewing blogs as to how to do this step well. But, when I'm using a pattern for the first time I like to follow just the pattern, as given in the package that I bought. It may seem perverse, but I feel like that should be sufficient.

Just checked: there is a Figgy's tutorial, but it doesn't address the main problem I had, which was quite where exactly to line up the zipper so that it's not completely exposed. The first time I sewed it on it was 100% visible. I unpicked it and chose some arbitrary distance to set it back and it is well covered by the fly flap, except that I chose a zip with a hefty pull, so that part does stick out a bit.

There was also no mention made of shortening the zipper. I'm sure mine was the recommended length but I had to trim a considerable amount off or it would have dangled down inside the pants a long way. Now I would have no concerns doing this again, but if it's your first time and you're a bit more timid and less slapdash, you may want to check out Cindy's awesome tutorial.

Anyway, there it is, and it works! I managed to sew the curve of the fly shield the wrong way so it's curved where it attaches to the pants and right angled at the free edge where it should be curved. Oops. Oh, and I got completely bamboozled with how the waistband attached. The pattern may not be to blame there as it was getting late at night and I was starting to do things the autopilot (Oliver + S) way.

 

Once I'd finished, and P was wearing them I was itching to make another pair straight away. Partly to correct my mistakes, but also cause they are such a great pair of trousers. I love the slightly jodhpur-esque shape and they look really trendy on. I have some green denim that I think will be awesome for this pattern.

 

These pants were the last cut out of the 3m of navy drill that I bought when P started school. From that I've made 2 pair of shorts and 3 pair of trousers!

 

Then, on to she-who-will-never-wear-pants. The only time I can convince A to wear pants is when we're taking the bikes down to the BMX track. She is of the opinion that princesses and ballerinas wear dresses all the time, except when they're working laps of the pump track!

 



But as you can see her pants are getting too short. Not surprising as they're over a year old now. The one pair of pants that do still fit her really well, are completely unsuited to mucking around in the dirt, and those are her Moschino knock off trousers.

My challenge was to make another pair of those pants, that were suitable for outside play, but princess-y enough to perhaps get worn...

The pants are a lengthened version of the Oliver + S Sketchbook shorts. The size is only 18-24 months but fits my 3.5 year old perfectly. I guess they're roomy shorts, and probably in that size there's some nappy room which is not needed anymore. My Moschino pants had a very straight leg and I tapered these ones slightly and kept the cuff, as a result they've ended up looking a lot like another pair of Banyans!

 

The princess appeal came via some metallic silver topstitching on the back pockets

Edit: Forgot to mention. The Sketchbook pattern does not have back pockets. These are size 4 pockets from the After School pants pattern.

 



...and some more iron on faux rivets, but this time, with diamantes (can't believe I just typed diamantes on my blog, ugh the things we do huh)

 

I doubled the metallic thread and the sewing machine coped fine with the straight stitches, but the decorative stitch did skip a bit. I probably needed to loosen off the needle thread tension as the metallic thread does seem very grab-by.

 

 

I'm happy with these pants for so many reasons. It was a small remnant of high quality denim that was just enough for this length and no more. I didn't need to draft a new pattern size. They were dirt cheap to make and I think they look pretty cool.

 

 

She's happy with them for those moments when a girl just has to wear pants, no buts about it.

 

 

 

P.S that blue top is the Oliver + S 2+2 Blouse and is one of the first bits of knit (merino jersey) sewing I did!









Sandbox pants for school

One of the things I was looking forward to, as my children started school, would be the end of sand in their pockets! I swear if I had bought an empty sandpit the day they first started in childcare I could have filled it at least once by now. As it is, we don't have a sandpit at home, but we get sand in the washing machine, sand in the shoe tubs, sand on the bathroom floor....

Obviously a sewing pattern called Sandbox pants which had pockets made no sense to me at all. But when I found a paper copy of this out of print Oliver + S pattern I had to have it.

I had also passed this one over as it seemed a bit simple. But, like all Oliver + S patterns, the delight is in the detail. The finish of these pants with their patch pockets on the front, buttoned down back pockets and drawstring waist, is fantastic.

 



I guess another thing that put me off the pants previously is the hard to resist temptation to use a novelty quilting cotton for the patch pockets. That makes a cute pair of toddler pants but just isn't my style. So here I was, using a pattern that I thought was going to be dull, with some plain navy terry knit, in order to make some school pants for winter. And you know, I was really enjoying myself.

To make it even more interesting I decided to do flat felled seams everywhere. I've learned not to cut big notches in seam allowances and then try to do flat felled seams, but I think with thick fabric like this it would pay to even cut them with an increased seam allowance. They looked perfect when first sewn, but after a few washes there are spots where I didn't quite catch the folded under top seam allowance properly. Still, check out the insides:

After flat felling the outer leg seam it was a bit of a challenge to do the inner leg seam as well. I hadn't thought it through very well and it was only as I was sewing down into the thick, fluffy tunnel of the leg that I realised what was happening. It was slow going but oh so satisfying, and I may have shown my husband more than once how neat they look on the inside.

I now can't recommend the pattern highly enough!

Since P only has one long sleeved school polo and one official school bomber jacket, he desperately needed some pullovers. I tried my Flashback Skinny T hack that I used for his Kenzo jumper again and made two pullovers in school red.

This is a size 9/10 in width, with the neckline of the size 6 and size 6 length for sleeves and hem. I also did a bit of an armhole hack to try and deepen the armhole, and it works fine, but I think I'm asking the wrong question of this pattern. It's a fantastic skinny T pattern, it's not meant to be enlarged to a blouson style pullover. I just can't bring myself to buy a pattern this simple, I'll keep trying....

The pants have been an absolute favourite. Although, since P can't yet tie a bow himself, I might make the next pair without the drawstring. I scored some more of the heavy, navy terry knit for a second pair, as well as some navy moleskin for a pair of Field Trip cargo pants and the last of the navy twill for a pair of Figgy's Banyan pants. I hope I'll find some interesting sewing in that pile.

Notably, the Banyan pants will be my first ever zipper fly. Isn't it funny when you read someone's blog and think, "have they really never done {insert thing you do yourself all the time} yet?".

... Oh, and you know what?... P's school has a sandpit!  Aaaarrrrggh!!