Field Trips, Hippos and comfy cushions

I can not bear to leave something unfinished, or even worse, in a state where it had technically defeated me.

Those terrible Ottobre pants had to be rectified. But before I did. I enjoyed some sewing with the same fabric and therefore the same sewing thread.... A lovely pair of Oliver + S Field Trip Cargo pants

These were the exact same size 10 with size 12 length that I had made back here. The fabric is essentially the same too, being a different colourway of the identical mystery $4/m drill from Eliza's.

There's a fair bit of topstitching and work involved in these pants but their definitely worth it. They look so cool!

The cargo pockets are awesome....

Mostly I just love the fit. relaxed, but not baggy. They pull on like easy wearing track pants but look that bit more put together. Yet there's nothing stuffy and serious-trouser-y about them

So then, with these successfully sewn and being worn, there was nothing for it but to dive back in to those Ottobre pants. I unpicked the belt loops and removed the waistband from 80% or more of the waist edge.

I threw a 1/2" dart at the centre back and at each side seam, essentially reducing the waist by 3" circumference. I took that much out of the waistband at the centre back, then reattached it to the pants.

Thankfully the inverted waist stay didn't need adjusting, it just got eased back onto the reduced waist circumference before the waistband went back on.

It still irks me that the full weight of the pants is hanging on the tacks where the belt loops hold the waist facing down, but at least the waist band doesn't now stick out like late term maternity pants.

The smiling welt pockets are stupidly cute, and I'm glad to have rescued them into a wearable pair of pants. I'll never sew this exact pattern again, but I might steal the pocket idea and put them on a nicer pattern, like the Field Trip Cargo Pants.

This year, at school, P's class have been invited to bring in a chair cushion to make their classroom chairs more comfortable and personalised. Well, it just so happened that I'd been trying to learn to crochet properly and read a pattern. In doing so, I'd made a square of double and treble crochet and thought it would make a perfect cushion cover panel.

I didn't bother lining the cushion, but sewed some navy cotton to back the crochet panel, then added a navy cotton envelope closure at the back.

Spot the crochet stitch error! I can't unsee it, but it was part of learning and now I realise that soldiering on and leaving mistakes will bug me. They say imperfections are the mark of handmade, but I think I'd rather unpick and correct them straight away.

Having the navy cotton in the stash, and using the snap press for the closure meant it was barely an hour's work to cut and sew the whole cushion (he chose grey snaps, I could have matched the navy too :) ). I even ended up having the right sized cushion insert in the stash - a sign that I surely have too much craft stuff stashed away, right?!

I've been really taken with crochet now that i think I've worked it out. I'm excited to show you some of the things I've  made since this cushion front.

Meanwhile, this one will go off to school tomorrow and hopefully it will be used for sitting on, and not for whacking his mates.