The Great Khaki Conundrum: Solved Further

I know you are already jealous of the cute crops I told you about on Tuesday. But, brace yourself, Internet, because I am now going to share how I took those cropped khakis from cute to awesome! I'll wait while you catch your breath.

If you remember, I had more than one stain to deal with on my poor khaki pants. I solved the goo issue by shortening the legs and adding cuffs. Now what to do about the blue ink?

Briefly, I considered trimming them in lace when I saw these lovelies on YesStyle.

Inspired by the inset on the back yoke and more lace on the pockets, I thought I could find a way to "patch" over the stain and still make it look as though the lace had been part of the design all along.

But I determined the lace would make the pants altogether too sweet. Luckily, this amazing book was waiting for me at a garage sale the weekend before.

There it was, sitting in my family room just begging to be put to use.To be honest, I opened that book without having any idea what I was looking for. Internet, that book is magical. It all but fell open to a page on patch pockets!

Genius, right? A fun detail, but with clean, simple lines.

I started by cutting a template from scrap paper to get a good size. If you are a stickler for precision, you can measure out each side, but I just cut until my pocket pattern looked good. Then, I pinned it to my pants to make sure the scale and placement were good.

Next, I pinned the template to fabric from one of the legs.

Two things to note here: 1. I pinned through two layers of fabric so I could make a pocket for each leg. 2. I did not cut my fabric to the size of the paper pattern. The pattern represented the final size of my pocket so I needed to add 1/4-inch seam allowance to five of the sides. To the top, I added the 1/4-inch plus another 5/8.

Once you've cut out your pocket, fold the top edge over 1/4 inch and press.

Edge stitch the fold the fold, then fold the remaining five sides by 1/4 inch and press. Pin the heck out of those folds.

Fold the top edge down another 5/8 inch, press and stitch with a 3/8 to 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Flip your pocket over and pin the wrong side to the right side of your pant leg. Unless you chose to baste those edge folds, you'll need to take care that the raw edges have stayed tucked under and the corners are laying nicely. Now edge stitch your pocket to your pants on the five bottom sides and press.

I'm not trying to trick you with that photo. The actual stitches weren't all that visible so I drew them in. They look a bit funny, but you get the idea.

I mentioned cutting two pockets a few steps back. I thought it would make the stain-covering pocket look more like it belonged if I added a pocket on the other leg as well. So...

I love it!

I wore my cute old-made-new britches to the farmer's market last Saturday and got tons of compliments. Yea!

I just love them! Have you made anything over recently? Do you love it or wish you'd just let it be? Tell me all about it in the comments.

The Great Khaki Conundrum

Internet, I need your help. I have a pair of khakis I bought from Ann Taylor Loft a few years ago when I worked at the law office. They might, in fact, be the most expensive khakis I've ever purchased. When I first got them the fit wasn't exactly perfect, but I got them altered and wore the heck out of them.

Then I got a blue ink stain on the thigh and a bog black glob of shoe goo right above the knee. But can't just get rid of these pants. I mean I paid full price for them! And I got them altered. They're good pants!

They've been sitting in my alterations pile for, I don't know, a year? Today was the day they were going to get altered. So I put them on.

I'm not even going to apologize for not wearing make-up. Yes I am. I am so sorry, internet, but desperate times call for desperate measures and this is a sad, sad, desperate mess.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do about the ink stain, but the solution for the goo stain was to simply crop the pants.

That's when I realized I didn't have a plan. Burmuda shorts? Shorts? Cuffed or scalloped? Side vent? Lace inlay?

I have no idea! 

And internet, looking online is not helping because there are so many ways I could go. Check it:

Many ways to wear a pair of cropped khakis from J's Everyday Fashion

Not too short but also might-not-be-women's shorts from Tonic

Not too short, invisible hem shorts from Brown's

Shorter, scalloped short from J. Crew

Suzanne's lace trimmed shorts tutorial from Adventures in Dressmaking

4" chino short from J. Crew

Do you see all the possibilities? And that's only about a third of the ones I thought would work with the slim cut of my pants. I'm putting it into your hands, internet.  What should I do? Which would you do?

Help me please!