Something for the fellas!

Sewing for little girls and their dolls is so much fun!  The sky is the limit with ruffles, appliques, cute fabrics, lots of girly accents.

Sewing for boys is a bit more challenging to have some creative fun.  I know.  I have two grown sons.  I didn't do much sewing for them.

So the first thing I wanted to make was a pair of pants from camouflage fabric.  And what says "boy" better than some cargo pockets?

And here's a closeup of the cargo pocket.

I got really creative with some chocolate brown knit fabric, a scrap of the camo fabric, and a black t-shirt to creative a coordinating (NOT matchy-matchy) shirt.  Got the entire thing finished and didn't like the way I serged on the neckband.  Of course that was the last step.  And the package had to go into the mail the next day.  It was approaching midnight.  So .... more on that later.  It is waiting for me to remove the neckband and redo it. 

I was able to make a shorts outfit for the little guys.  The inspiration came from the fabric itself -- some blazing soccer balls.  That became a tank for summer.  An orange t-shirt was cannibalized for the neck ribbing and strips of orange knit to bind the neck and armscyes. 

Boys like their shorts long (or mine did) so these are knee length.  The orange accent on the shorts was another strip cut from the t-shirt and sewn into the side seams as a faux piping.  I cut a width of fabric and folded it wrong sides together and inserted it with all cut edges together before serging the side seam.  Then on the right side I pressed it flat and stitched it down.  Even though these will only be on display, were they to be worn for real, I know that strip would pucker and buckle with trips through the washing machine and dryer.

When I see anything soccer, I remember the years of sitting in the bleachers at practices and games.  A total of 18 years ... with no breaks!  From the first practice for the oldest son in 2nd grade ... to Senior Night at the high school for the youngest.  Of course, I thought the shirt needed a number on the back.

I found a font for free download on the internet that looked like jersey numbers.  I printed out a number 4 (my youngest son's number) on my laser printer.  It had a lot of black so I changed it to a light gray so I could still see it but wouldn't use up all my toner.

The technique was the same as for the tulips.  I traced the number onto Solvy and then used that as a stitching guide on a piece of orange t-shirt fabric.  The only caveat is that I had to make sure to flip the number so that when turned to the right side it would be readable.  For hearts and tulips it wouldn't have mattered.

It was a lot easier working on a large square of fabric just following the line, than if I had cut out the number and tried to stitch along the cut edge.  By including this step the applique has a nice folded edge.


So the number was stitched, then cut out close to the stitching, turned, pressed to the back of the shirt, and stitched with contrasting thread.  The Solvy doesn't adhere the applique permanently but it does help keep it in place as you are stitching it down.  It also serves as a stabilizer so the stitching is nice and even.

I actually did the applique before doing anything else on the shirt so I could work on a single layer in the flat.  But I had to wait til the end to show you as my surprise!