All About Boys!! Destination: Ice Cream Shop

All About Boys!! Destination: Ice Cream Shop

• Monday, July 14, 2014

Welcome to Day 1 of our fun new series, ALL ABOUT BOYS!!

This season we are featuring 2 FREE patterns and showing you fun ways to customize them and make them unique and all your own!

The free patterns we used are the Basic Tee and the Sunny Day Shorts.

I sewed the tee using the exact pattern width (size 4/5) but added a couple of inches of  length to the hemline and about an inch to the sleeves, although I think the sleeves would have been fine as is. To determine if you need to add width or length to your tee, compare the pattern to an existing tee that fits your child well. Dana explains this all in her tutorial as well!

The Sunny Day Shorts were a new-to-me sew and they are GREAT! I sewed the size 4 and added 2.5" to the length. The sizing is a bit vague as it is only based on waist measurements. E's waist measures smaller than the size 4 but I was a little worried that the hips would be too small if I went any smaller. I definitely chose the right size as the fit is perfect! I referenced the finished inseam measurements and compared that to a pair that I liked the length of and used that to determine how much extra I wanted to add to the length. I'm really really happy with how these turned out!!

O's outfit blogged here.

To customize these I swiped the back pocket pattern piece from another well loved pattern, the Kudzu Cargos, and used it to create fun snappy side pockets!

I added interfacing to the inside of the pocket to reinforce before adding the snaps.

I also customized them a bit more with added topstitching to the side seams, hem and added a faux stitched fly to the front for more fun detail!

Basic tees are just a complete blank slate for customizing and having some fun with them! I made this tee using a thrifted tee (LOVE those stripes!). The color reminded me of E's FAVORITE ice cream eva', Mint Chocolate Chip. Thus the idea of an "ice cream" tee was born. He loves anything frozen and sweet really, so I chose to add a popsicle to the front of the tee with the freezer paper and fabric paint method. I'm totally into pops of orange lately and here was yet another perfect opportunity to add it.

To make the graphic, I googled free printable images and found this shape that I liked. I enlarged it to the size I wanted and added the stick by tracing a popsicle stick.

And thus the perfect tee to wear to our frequented and favorite ice cream shop was born!

I hope this gives you inspiration to use these free patterns and make them your own with just a few tweaks!

And go have some ICE CREAM!!

Over the next week, April & Brooke will also be sharing their looks. This is gonna be fun guys!!!

And that's not all! If you want to sew along we would LOVE to see your looks! Just use the hashtag #allaboutboystheseries so we can see what you've done!!

Outfit:

Tee: Basic Tee (FREE Pattern!!)
Tee fabric: Thrifted XL men's tee

Size Sewn: 4/5 (added 2 1/2" inches to length)

Shorts: Oliver & S Sunny Day Shorts (FREE Pattern!!)

Shorts Fabric: Stretch Chambray from Joann Stores (Red Tag)

Size Sewn: 4 (added 2 1/2" to length)

Happy Sewing!!