"Madras Mia!" -- Getting Started on the Patchwork Madras Pants

I've made up my mind: no patchwork madras long pants for me, nuh-uh.

If I want to wear loud pants I have these:



And these:



And these:



And let's not forget these!



I do not want for statement pants.  But I could use some more shorts (statement or otherwise), so that's what I'm making.  I bought two and a half yards (I think) of the patchwork madras and since it doesn't seem to matter whether I cut parallel to the selvage or not, I can likely squeeze another garment out of this yardage.  Maybe a short-sleeve shirt like this?



Yesterday somebody suggested I make one of those collarless surfer shirts from the Sixties but to me this looks like a pajama top.



Anyway, I managed to get a little sewing in today as we had a short break in our construction project.

I pre-washed my madras with the rest of my laundry (which included some heavy towels) and I'm not sure if this happened in the washing machine or what, but when I removed the yardage from the machine I noticed this small rip (I added the safety pin so I'd see it when I cut my fabric). 



Fortunately this was the only damage.  The patchwork is sturdy, but obviously with all those seams running both ways, it's not as sturdy as regular fabric.  I'll probably wash my shorts by hand moving forward.

Anyway, I've cut all my pattern pieces and have completed the front pockets, which will be those long Op shorts-style patch pockets.



In fact, I'm using the same self-drafted pattern I used last summer to make those lavender corduroy Op short knock offs (below), with a few variations: the back waistband won't be elastic and I'll add an applied waistband instead of just folding over the top.



The inside of each front pocket is lined with gray shirting, and I cut the gray narrower so that when I turned the fabric right side out (I stitched them right sides together first), the madras folds over the edge a bit, hiding the gray completely.







I topstitched along the curved edge (that's the pocket opening) and then attached the pockets to the pants fronts, edgestitching at roughly 1/16" from the edge and then topstitching 1/4" from the edgestitching (on my Bernina, using my Singer straight stitch foot with the adapter I bought).





Readers, I hope to have an update tomorrow if I am able to sew around the construction.  If not, hopefully on the weekend.

I do hope your sewing projects are going well.  I have two new sewing books (and one sewing video) to tell you about, so stay tuned.

Have a great day, everybody!

(RIP Esther!)