A little sewing for the little man

My older two kids (now 22 and 20) are not so willing these days to have me make clothes for them, which is fine, but my 17 yo will still wear shorts and shirts I make for him (as long as they are plain and nothing fancy). Little man (almost 10) is the one I can still have fun sewing for, he is happy to choose fabrics and patterns and I can make him almost anything and he will happily wear it.

Yesterday i pulled some brown drill and some camouflage poplin from the stash and set about making him the Alpine shorts from Terra's Treasures. The pattern can be found here for anyone interested http://terrastreasuresdesigns.com/shop/alpine-shorts-and-trousers/ .
These are the shorts as per the pattern (pic from Terra's Treasures Blog).

While the pattern calls for cutting different fronts and backs to create the upward sweep of the contrast over the legs I decided to go a different way and create the legs with the contrast lower at both sides of the legs and higher in the middle. This allowed me to cut two fronts and two backs from the same pattern piece (instead of the 4 separate pieces that would be required if following the pattern).

I also decided to cut the contrast from the poplin as a double piece to account for the difference in weight from the drill of the main body of the shorts. I also left out the side seam pockets, as these shorts were the first trial of the pattern and were basically a test run to see if any changes had to be made. Well the shorts were a hit and little man has not had them off his body since they were completed. I was a little disappointed with the non-roll elastic I had on hand and will have to find some of a better quality before I make him another pair.

Hopefully I can get these off him in time to launder them and pack them in his bag for camp, he goes in a few days and wanted shorts that cover his knees so he won't get scratched on the rope swing. These fit the bill perfectly.