Jo sews: The joy of pockets: field trip cargo pants & raglan tee

It's been a while since we had some kid projects around here, hasn't it? Rest assured, I haven't been entirely neglecting them (the kid projects that is, not the kids themselves - they can be annoying, but in general I do try to keep them well fed and watered at least). Today, I'm finally getting around to showing you the outfit I made T for his birthday in May.

Excuse the dirty floor

If you sew for kids at all I hope you've tried at least one Oliver & S pattern - they're absolute treasures, delightful to sew, and well worth the money. I always learn something new and valuable, and this was no exception. It's the Field Trip cargo pants and raglan tee. The tee is a pretty straightforward basic, the beauty of which is in the impeccable drafting and pocket detail. But for me the real winner of this project was the linen trousers - I had SO MUCH FUN making all those pockets! The whole process of construction was a joy from start to finish, and the only thing I changed was to sew a double layer at the front knee panel, because boys. They go through knees like nobody's business. (There's a great flickr tute for doing that on this pattern, here).

Now the other thing about boys is, of course, pockets. Why is that? Part of my glee while sewing this up was knowing how into the pockets he'd be, and I wish I'd managed to video his reaction to them because it was hilarious. Instead, I've got the second best thing - a blow by blow demonstration of each one and exactly how much playmobil you can get in them. I didn't actually know they were full of playmobil until he started taking it out - I was killing myself laughing, which is why these photos are all at different angles.

Fig. 1: right side seam pocket.