Welcome Fall

 

It is the first day of fall, so in anticipation of coming cooler weather I have been sewing some warm clothes for my kids.  My big kid loves to wrap himself up in fuzzy fabrics like fleece and velour and he also loves to match his little brother so I made both of them shirts out of a snazzy blue argyle fleece. Big kid is wearing a Varsity Cowl Neck Pullover (affiliate link) from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop and the little guy is wearing Pauley's Pullover from Sewing for Boys (affiliate link).  

And remember these pants?

 

I fixed them!  It didn't take me as long as I expected to pick out the seams on the old facing.  Sewing the new waistband took a little longer but all in all it wasn't the ordeal I thought it would be - I'm glad I got right back on the horse rather than letting the pants sit there on the back of my sewing chair reminding me of my failure for weeks on end.  

I made a cute little patch for the hole left from the old snap and I even decided to add a fly shield, which wasn't on the original pattern.

 The fly shield is basically a piece of fabric a few inches wide and the length of the fly which is folded in half and placed behind the zipper on the side opposite the fly with the folded edge sticking out about an inch past the zipper.  I then sewed it in place by topstitching right next to the zipper through the pants, zipper and zipper shield.  You should also sew through the bottom of the fly shield as you are doing your topstitching to define the fly.  The right front waistband piece also had to be extended to account for the length of the fly shield.

I just love the details on these pants.  Isn't this little pocket cute? A great place to keep change or other small treasures.

These pants also have reinforced knees, which will make them last long enough for my little guy to wear them when he is bigger.  The original pattern actually called for zipper pockets at the knees, but that didn't make any sense to me.   It seems like anything you put in a knee pocket would end up being rather uncomfortable, especially if you are prone to kneeling on the floor as my big kid is.  So I just used the piece meant for the pocket to provide an extra layer of fabric at the knees.  I ironed the top and bottom edges under and topstitched them on prior to sewing the legs together so that the side edges got sewn up when the side seams and inseams of the pants were sewn.

Happy Fall!