Jammies: Part Seven (The Home Stretch)

The pants are almost finished. Here is the front with the false fly and the pockets attached.

   Then the instructions had me sew the backs to the fronts (without sewing the center back seam) and make the casing for the elastic. The pattern called for 1.25" wide elastic which necessitated a visit to JoAnn's. Once I had elastic of the required width I set about inserting it into the casing. Not an easy task. The elastic barely fit. 1" elastic would've been a better choice. I first employed my trusty bodkin. It made it about a third of the way through the casing then refused to budge. It finally let go of the elastic altogether. When I removed it from the casing I found it was a bit mangled. Thank goodness I was a cloth diapering kind of mama (back when cloth diapering wasn't cool) and had saved some of the diaper pins.They are the best thing ever for moving stubborn elastic through tight casings. 

   Once the elastic was in place the directions advised me to sew up the center back seam and tack the elastic seam to one side. Are they kidding me? After all the lovely attention to detail on the shirt and pants they end the project with a sloppy back seam and a big lump of elastic right in the middle of your back? 

That's not going to be comfortable. Today I will remove the stitching from the first and last few inches of the casing, sew the center back seam, resew the casing leaving a small opening at the back, pull the ends of elastic out through that opening, lap the elastic edges and sew them together, poke the elastic ends back into the casing and sew the small opening closed.  That will leave just the inner leg seams and hemming and the pants will be finished.