Sewing Cargo Pants With New Look 6745

Sewing cargo pants with New Look 6745 is easy and I’m so glad I did it! Combining views A & B gave me the unique look I wanted. Here’s how the process went.

The Pattern

New Look 6745 is a unisex pants pattern that features two views with style options. There’s decorative webbing, gusseted pockets, elastic, buttons and twill tape for the drawstring.

The waistband is a separate piece that has three rows of stitching. the top and bottom rows are for elastic while the middle row is for the drawstring.

My Process

One of the first things I did was to use my croquis notebook to sketch the look I wanted to achieve. This is a good way to try out different looks you might be considering before you’ve started your project. For example, I was thinking of making the front patch pockets a solid color, but changed that with the actual pants.

Next, I made sure to make a muslin of the pattern which included some fit adjustments. Since this is a unisex pattern, I went with a Medium based on the measurements on the pattern envelope.

woman wearing muslin of New Look 6745 — *Muslin*

While it might seem like making the muslin will make the whole process take longer, that’s really not the case (at least for me). Once the muslin is done and I know the pants fit, I can be much more confident about cutting out my fabric and actually sewing the garment.

But just to be sure, I always do a fit check before the pants are completed.

woman wearing cargo pants with New Look 6745 — *Fit check*

Sewing Cargo Pants With New Look 6745

The fabric I used was purchased from Fabric Wholesale Direct. It’s a camo printed broadcloth that is a woven, lightweight fabric. It’s a terrific fabric that washes and dries well (meaning it doesn’t need ironing). Because it’s lightweight, the pants will be comfortable during spring and summer.

The pockets on the front are gusseted, so it does take a little bit more time than just sewing on regular patch pockets. Once that is done, it’s a quick process to stitch up the rest of the pants.

Conclusion

I LOVE how these fit! Most likely it’s because of the time taken in the beginning to ensure the changes made to the pattern would be sufficient.

I can definitely recommend this pattern. I used snaps for the closures on the pockets, but buttons or Velcro can also be used.

If you’d like to see the video I made about making these pants, you can check it out here.

Simplicity 9886 Color-Blocked Dress

I decided to make this Simplicity 9886 color-blocked dress using some fabrics I had in my fabric stash. It wasn’t hard to find three fabrics to go together. It was more difficult to actually choose which ones of many to use 😂.

The Fabric

The pattern calls for the use of three woven fabrics. All of the ones I used are light to medium weight cotton blends. The blue that is the main fabric is a linen-like blend that I had bought at JoAnn Fabrics some years ago. The floral is from Hobby Lobby, purchased a few years ago. The yellow is a basic quilting cotton in a solid color. It’s a thin fabric which is one of the reasons it’s the smallest section.

The Pattern

In order to make things easier on myself, I chose to sketch out the design first. This was so important because I didn’t have to constantly think about how the pieces were going together. Mind you, I am not an artist so sketching is not my thing – LOL. But, it is so helpful to have this to refer to during the sewing process.

Sketch of the line drawing for the dress

This is a sketch of the line drawing for both front and back. Colored pencils make the sketch come to life and help in the visualization process. I’m not sure if you can tell from the sketch, but there are inseam pockets in the dress.

My Dress

woman wearing Simplicity 9886 color-blocked dress

Simplicity 9886 is not a difficult pattern to make. I think that all the preparations I did ahead of time helped a lot! The dress is View C, with the length of View A. The midi length is one of my favorites.

Because there is lots of stay stitching (which I recommend you do), you may find that you’ll use a lot of thread. But those stitches are important since they help to keep the pattern pieces from stretching out of shape.

It’s important to give yourself as little room for confusion as possible when making a color blocked garment. That’s especially important if you don’t do many projects like this. I used a very similar process when I made this color-blocked top.

Conclusion

Overall, I can recommend Simplicity 9886 color-blocked dress. It can be made for bold and bright colors, or you can choose something more subtle. I believe that with a bit of preplanning, you can have a successful garment completed in a short amount of time. The dress is comfortable to wear and I think it’s a good addition to my spring/summer wardrobe.

Latest Minerva Project – Sewing Faux Leather

My latest Minerva project – sewing faux leather was challenging but fun to work on. There’s a lot to keep in mind when using this fabric, so that’s some of what I want to touch on in this post. I was gifted the Minerva faux leather as a Minerva brand ambassador.

Here is the post I wrote for the Minerva website.

*This post does contain affiliate links.

The Fabric

The name of this fabric is Minerva Core Range Soft Supple Stretch Faux Leather. You can check it out here. It really is soft and supple and there is enough stretch to make your garments very comfortable.

Minerva faux leather in Cornflower blue

This is a fabric I didn’t prewash like I do for every other one. Shrinkage of faux leather shouldn’t be an issue. Machine washing in cold water, then hanging to dry should work well to care for the garment.

The Pattern

BurdaStyle magazine 03/2019 #107

Above is a picture of the pattern I used for the jacket. It’s a biker jacket from 2019. I find that BurdaStyle magazine patterns are trendy but often timeless. That’s a good thing, because it can be quite an undertaking to trace the patterns from the pattern sheets in order to sew them up! This faux leather jacket is actually the second time I’ve used this pattern. Here is the post I wrote back in 2019.

Sewing Faux Leather

For the actual construction of the garment, I used a #12 jersey needle. Although some say to use a jean needle, I felt that this would be too large a hole in the fabric. The jersey needle worked out great! Sewing this is not like going through denim. The stitch length I used most often is 3.0, then topstitching was done at 3.5-4.0 stitch length.

I used a 1/2″ seam allowance which gave me more room and was what I needed (even though I allowed for 5/8″ seam allowance in my pattern). I added a FBA (full bust adjustment) in the muslin I had made for the previous jacket. I’m glad I saved that, which made making this latest Minerva project sewing faux leather much easier.

Clips are great for holding the fabric pieces together. Not putting too many pin holes in the garment is important.

I made the lining from two remnant pieces I had on hand. Having something fun inside a coat or jacket can really brighten your day.

Overall

Sewing faux leather is easy. You just have to keep a few things in mind. The only downside is that you won’t get a nice, crisp pressed garment. But you certainly get get an awesome garment!