Sew Fancy Pants Projects 3 and 4: Persephone Pants and the Olli Summer Pants

Hello! I’m back on the #sewfancypants train and looking forward to sharing today’s looks. My son has seen me sewing up a storm over the last few weeks and always asks, “Is that for you or is it for me?” So, when I had some long, odd shaped scraps left over from my Persephone Pants, I opted to sew them up into matching pants for my son. His pants are the Misusu Patterns Olli Summer Pants which are a favorite around here. Let’s get on to the details.

Fabric

I wear my two solid colored Persephone Pants several times each week, and knew I needed to add another a pair to the rotation. For this pair I selected this Blue/Grey Ventana Twill from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. (Disclosure: this fabric was provided to me for this post, but all opinions are my own). The fabric has a pronounced twill weave and a mid-weight of 7.9 oz. At 45″ wide, it’s not quite as wide as most bottom weight fabrics, so I did have to get 3 yards in order to have enough fabric. Despite the narrower width, it’s priced great and 3 yards of this fabric costs about the same as 2 yards of other bottom weights I’ve used (psssst: to get an even better deal you can use code ‘FANCYPANTS20’ to save 20% at RCF through January). Like many cottons, this fabric relaxes a bit with wear, so I opted to make my pants just a touch tight. I’ve been wearing them since taking photos a few hours ago, and they’ve now relaxed and are feeling just right.

Persephone Pants

This is my 4th pair of Persephone Pants and I still don’t think I’m done making them. If you want to know the my fitting adjustments you can find them in the post all about my first pair of Persephones. Now that I’ve made them several times, I can get a pair sewn up in about 4 hours. Wearing them makes me feel infinitely cooler than I actually am and this blue/grey pair will be a welcome wardrobe addition. Counting down the days until spring so I can start pairing these with all my fun patterned blouses. Something about winter makes me wear black and white on the daily.

I literally spent weeks hemming and hawing over what to make for this post. Time kept coming and I was feeling the pressure to sew something completely new and unique, but no ideas were sparking joy. The thought of making another pair of Persephone Pants felt like an epiphany. As a blogger, there’s often pressure to feel like content has to be completely new in order to share. Making and wearing this pattern makes me happy, and why shouldn’t that be worth something?

Another bonus to having made this pattern so many times? Upon seeing these, my husband remarked that the workmanship was my most professional yet. Sewing a pattern more than once allows me to slow down and hone the skills related to each step instead of fretting about what skills will be needed for the next. When I first started sewing for myself, I made the same few patterns 5-10 times and it was a great way to refine the skills related to each pattern. Since then, my sewing skills have grown and diversified, but I love going back to my sewing roots and focusing on skill building once again. Maybe I’ll do more of that this coming year.

Summer Olli Pants

I was first introduced to Misusu Patterns after seeing the Origami Sweater on Instagram. Elles has a fantastic pattern collection filled with interesting children’s designs for both boys and girls. Finding exciting and imaginative designs for boys is sometimes a challenge, but that’s not the case with these patterns. Last summer, the Summer Olli Pants and Shorts pattern was released and made available for free to members of the Misusu Patterns Sew and Tell Facebook group. Upon hearing this, I joined the group, downloaded the pattern, and promptly made my son a few pairs of shorts.

Once winter arrived and he could no longer wear his Olli Shorts outside, I noticed my son changing into them whenever we were home. After a few days of this, I asked him why he wanted to wear his shorts at home. He replied, ” The pockets fit my duct tape wallet!” I remedied this situation by making him two pairs of the pants for Christmas, and now, a third pair in this blue/grey twill. Now he’ll have plenty of pants to hold his wallet and keep him warm.

The style lines of this pattern lend themselves well to both scrap busting and color-blocking. I’ve already got a few color-blocked shorts in mind for summer. Good-bye scraps, hello wonderfully eighties shorts. Another feature I love about this pattern is a decent size range from 0-3 months all the way up to 5-6 years. My tall 5 year old is at the top of the size range wearing a 5/6 with 1 inch added to the length. It’s also a rather quick sew. With the pieces already cut, I was able to finish all but the hem of these during the 2 hours and 20 minutes I have to myself while my son is at school. This time included a lunch break, so I probably could’ve completed them during that time if I didn’t take a break. The Summer Olli Pants and Shorts check all the kid’s clothing boxes for me: free pattern, great scrap buster, stylish, and a quick sew? What are you waiting for? If you’ve got a cool kid in your life, you need this pattern.

The Verdict

Sticking with familiar patterns in a new to me fabric was 100% the right choice. It also helped the process along when I cut both pairs of pants at the same time, from now on I’d like to do this more. It cut down on the amount of leftover fabric and gave me the motivation to finish both in succession. The long skinny pattern pieces required for the Olli Pants were the perfect size to fit on my oddly shaped scraps and (bonus!) made me feel less wasteful. I’m a Ventana Twill convert and plan to acquire either the Canyon Red or Mauve Berry in the near future. Any ideas on what I should use it for next?

Thanks for reading!

Interested in more of my Sew Fancy Pants Projects? Check out my Sienna Persephone Pants or my Emerson Crop Pants.

Want to see more of what I’ve made with Raspberry Creek Fabrics? Check out my Matching Loungewear, Perkins Shirt, or Gemma Sweater and Ginger Jeans.