Green Cords and Reflections on Sewing

Back during Kids Clothes Week, the last thing on my list didn’t get finished – a pair of green corduroy pants for Jacob (item #11 for the week – no wonder I had sewing fatigue!). I thought I’d power on the next week and get it done, but it ended up taking me a while to get back to it – catching up on housework and a family holiday got in the way. Putting in my first zipper fly also caused some procrastination! Well, I finally got back to it…

The fabric (fine-wale cord) and buttons came from Spotlight. The pattern is the “Relaxed” Pants from Spring 1/2013 edition of Ottobre Design magazine (my favourite source of sewing patterns for kids). This is not a simple pattern, and gave me lots of new challenges – welt pockets with flaps, zipper fly, belt loops, elastic in the back. The end result is a snazzy pair of cords!

They are far from perfect – the zip isn’t quite in correctly and it pokes out of its flap a bit (although it’s not as bad as I thought), the flaps on the pockets are different lengths, the top-stitching is less than perfect. So don’t look at the details too closely!

As I was re-reading the pattern instructions for the 100th time (part of the challenge of Ottobre patterns), I started dreaming of the day when it all comes naturally. No reading instructions over and over, feeling stressed because I’m not sure if I’m doing it right – just getting on with sewing.

But will that ever really happen? One of the things I enjoy about sewing is the challenge. There’s always something new to learn and I rarely sew the same thing twice. Sure, with the skills I have, I could quite happily sew lots of different things, but without the new challenges, I don’t think I’d enjoy sewing as much.

So now I have a conundrum. Jacob needs a couple more pairs of long pants for winter (and it’s got cold here in the last week). Do I get myself off the hook quickly with a simple pattern, or should I cement the skills I’ve just learnt with the same pattern?

Do you like to challenge yourself with sewing projects? Do you prefer quick, comfort-zone sewing?

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