Sewing for Boys: February

It’s still early in the month but I wanted to get on with this months Sewing for Boys Sew along pattern.  Stacey has chosen the Kickin’ Back Sweats pattern and/or Mr Two Face pants (we’re working from Sewing for Boys by Shelly Figueroa and Karen LePage).  In theory Mathias would not fit into the Mr Two Face pants as they go up to 18 months and he’s approx 28 months.

Not wanting to buy fabric I had a think about what I could use and raided the cupboards.  I have a sweatshirt that I bought from Gap more years ago than I can remember,  probably 9 or 10 at a guess, here I am wearing it while decorating Bethan’s 2nd birthday cake (she’s now 7) :

(Oh and a reminder of what our kitchen used to look like – ugh!)  It’s worn on the cuffs, lost most of the elasticity in the cuffs and seen better days so last night I sat and unpicked the pocket from the front of the sweatshirt, that took about an hour as I wanted to make sure I didn’t damage the fabric.

Part of this sew along challenge is to embellish the finished item, I’ve had an idea floating around in the back of my mind to print onto fabric so decided to have a go. I’d had a look at different methods earlier in the week as Emily and I had been discussing it.

I cut a piece of freezer paper to A4 size and ironed it onto a piece of cotton and then trimmed the fabric to the size of the paper.  Tobi let me play with a programme on his iPad (Adobe Ideas) and I then printed off the finished document onto the fabric.  (The freezer paper helps the fabric feed through the printer).

I made a pocket from the fabric and stitched this onto the trousers before I made them.

I must say that this is the easiest pair of trousers I have ever made.  I did the pattern tracing last night along with the cutting out.  I think they probably took about an hour to sew together this morning!

This is the front of the trousers:

You can probably see that the leg on the right has the cuff on.  When I was cutting the pieces I realised that while the back of the sweatshirt was big enough, the front was a bit on the short side, so I opted to keep the cuff on.  To be honest it’s so old that there is not much stretch in it anyway and doesn’t make much difference, it just makes it hang slightly different.

The back has the ‘G’ from the front of the sweatshirt on it:

You can see where I removed the pocket, I think this marking will fade with washing.

Pocket detail:

I had the idea of writing out the dictionary definition of the word ‘pocket’ so that’s what I did.  The programme on T’s iPad allows you to write using your finger directly on the screen and then use your creation.  I copied and pasted it in Word so that I had an A4 sheet with the text repeated.  Well I think it works, certainly fine for a first time effort.  I’ve heat set the ink and am hoping that it doesn’t fade or wash out completely in the first wash!

The only snag is that they don’t fit!  My little boy is a bit little for his age (according to government growth charts), I thought I could chop some length off the bottom of the legs but that would mean that the pocket is really low.  So Leah tried them on, they are a bit short for her and she stropped when I told her she couldn’t have them.  It just means that he’s got some trousers to wear later this year or maybe next depending on how fast he grows!

As they were so quick to make I went on and made a second pair!  And yes they are too big too, intentionally this time, I couldn’t be bothered with working out what size they need to be for now.

These are made from a really old sweatshirt, M&S 18/19 yrs ago I think, it’s been in my cupboard unworn for years except for a few decorating tasks.

The pocket has it’s own little story, the main fabric is from the sweatshirt above. The other night Mathias had quite a disturbed night and I thought on reflection maybe it was because he was cold, so the next night I put him in his pyjamas and put a fleece all-in-one on him over the top. Before he went to bed we realised that it was probably a bit small and his feet were restricted so we got the scissors and cut them off (yes while he was wearing it, we like to live dangerously!). As you may have guessed I struggle to throw fabric away regardless of what it is, and I just put the 2 ‘feet’ in my pocket. Today I got them out and cut the picture out and appliquéd it onto the pocket piece.

(Not a karate chop pose but a request from his papa to take his thumb out of his mouth!)

Despite the trousers being too big Mathias was more than happy to try them on and I tucked them up inside for a quick photo shoot.  You can see how low the pocket is on his leg.  Right now I can’t quite imagine him being big enough to wear them but I’m sure it will happen before I know it!

I’m now on the look out for any old sweats that need cutting up!  If they are really big I could make a pair for Leah, the pattern goes up to 6/7 year old.

Would I recommend the pattern?  Yes, absolutely, just check sizing first or don’t if you are happy to wait for your child to grow. There is also still plenty of time to join in the sew along, click on the button in the side bar for more info.

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