skinny pants | oliversfancy

This week’s challenge was boy week. Because I always sew for a boy, I wanted to do something a little special for this challenge. I wanted to stretch my skills and make something cool and fun. Well it was a crazy amount of work, but I’m very happy with how it all turned out.

I made a 3 piece outfit: skinny jeans, t-shirt, and a flannel jacket.

For Oliver’s David Beckham outfit, I drafted the skinny pants based on a pair of his pants. I was going to use that pattern again, but then I saw that Jessica had created a pattern for a pair of skinny cords that just happened to be in Oliver’s size. I loved the pockets and yoke detail on her pants, so I decided to try out her pattern. Note to self: little boys are bigger than little girls! We ended up with super skinny hipster pants. He has to wear his disposable diapers with these pants because there’s not enough room for the cloth diaper bum. Also with the super skinny bottom, they continually ride up so they look a little short, even though they are not. However, I can’t help but think the little hipster look is too cute on him. 🙂 I used a blue stretch denim that I picked up at JoAnn’s this weekend for the pants fabric.

The t-shirt is the Raw-Edged Raglan pattern from Sewing for Boys. This was my first foray into sewing with knits, and I am now hooked. Seriously, no hemming! I used an old t-shirt of Ian’s for the fabric, and it is just so fun to see the Little Man in a loved shirt of his Daddy’s. I had to adjust the pattern a little because even though it says that it starts at 18 months, my pattern sheet begins at 2/3. I took about 1/4 inch of all the sides of the 2/3, and it turned out great. I love the skinny fit and super long sleeves. The only problem we ran into was that my child must have a big head because I had to stretch out the neckline quite a bit to fit it over his head. Thankfully, I was able to stretch it enough to fit without having to re-cut and sew a new neckband. FYI using freezer paper as your pattern piece makes cutting out the knit fabric so easy because you iron on the freezer paper to the knit and then pull it off to reuse after you cut the fabric.

The jacket is also based on a pattern from Sewing for Boys. It is based on the Out on the Town Jacket with modifications. I wanted to have a straight-across neckline, not a sloping one like the pattern shows, so I just decided to wing it and cut out the neckline how I had pictured in my head. Guess what- turned out perfectly! Love it when that happens. I used a flannel from JoAnn for the outer and the same stretch denim for the lining. I was going for a look that was kinda in-between a button-down shirt and a jacket. If I do say so myself, I think I nailed it. This is the perfect jacket for a casual fall outing- especially around here where we are starting to get a bit of a chill at night but still have 80 degree days. This jacket came together so quickly- quite an easy sew- up until the buttons! The buttonhole foot on my machine is such a pain in the neck! I had to re-do several of the buttonholes because they were all uneven- and then the thread on the bottom was a nasty mess. I think it’s because of the thickness of the jacket that the machine didn’t feed well. If anyone has any advice for good buttonholes, I’d be glad to hear it!

So that’s my outfit for this week- if you are still reading after a super long post. I really enjoyed learning even more new skills and having fun with an outfit along the way! I have now added more raw-edged raglans to my list for KCWC next week! FYI there was a great post on Project Run and Play this week on sewing boy clothing, She echoed some of the same thoughts that I’ve had. Oh, and I have to give props to the hubby for the photography. He took all the pictures (for this shoot and the Beckham shoot), and I followed along as photographer assistant. He has a much better gift at photography than I do!

Have you heard of Project Run and Play? I had not heard of it until last season when (I think it was) Dana mentioned she was a judge for it. Love the spin-off of Project Runway! Go here if you need more info on it.

I wanted to participate in the home sewalong challenges this season because I knew it would push me to come up with new ideas. Last week’s challenge was to remix a bias cut skirt, and I just couldn’t figure out how to do that in a boy fashion so I sat out that week. This week’s challenge is to pick a fashion icon and make a look that represents him/her. I was drawing a blank until good ol’ Google popped up with a list of top male fashion icons and had David Beckham on the list. I knew Oliver would look super snazzy in a Beckham outfit, and I also knew I had the ability to make this outfit.

Here’s what I made him- bow tie (using this tutorial), vest (remixing my former pattern a bit), and skinny cut dress pants (self-drafted pattern). Pants and vest are made from an old pair of men’s dress pants. I used every last scrap of the pants to fit in both of them! FYI super cheap way to make toddler clothing!

The end result is pretty close to what I had envisioned. I really wanted to make his button-down shirt also but ran out of time. I could not be happier with our photo shoot today though! Little Man was the perfect model and had so much fun running around downtown. He got quite a few admiring looks as well. 🙂 I know I’m biased, but seriously, how cute is he?!

The vest- I cut in the shoulders and made a more dramatic V in front than I had previously. I did not top-stitch because I thought it would take away from the dressy look of the vest. I also added pockets to match the picture. The only problem with a toddler model is that my fitting times are so few and a bit rushed so I didn’t really get a good feel for the fit until we went for the photo shoot. I realized then that the back is a bit wide so the top falls down over his shoulders a bit as he runs around. I am going to take in the back a little at the center seam to fix that problem.

The pants- I learned a lot making my own self-drafted pattern for the first time. I used a pair of Oliver’s pants and narrowed the legs to make a skinny leg shape. I am so drawn to the skinny cut look that is in for boys now- not the “I’m wearing my little sister’s pants look,” but just a nice straight cut that narrows in at the bottom. If these pants turned out, I wanted to use the pattern to make him some skinny colored pants/cords like these ones from Old Navy. I am hoping to make a trip out to JoAnn’s this weekend or next to pick up some fabric for them now that I like the pattern. (Boo that it’s 45 minutes away!) The pants are a flat front and an elastic back. I used the instructions from the Treasure Pocket Pants to help me make the faux fly. Next time I will raise the back and lower the front a little more because they are a bit low-riding in the back= those cloth diapers give him such a big booty. 🙂

Bowtie- super easy and great instructions on tying! I love how it looks and I see quite a few more in his future. 🙂 Also don’t you just love the little extra touch his Chucks give to his look? I picked those up before he was born because his daddy loves to wear Chuck high-tops, and I knew he would be thrilled to have his son wear some also. So pumped they fit him for this fall!

Make sure you head over to the PRP blog tomorrow to vote for the contestants! Also check out the Flickr group to see all the other cool looks at-home sewalong people have come up with for this week’s challenge! Looking forward to the next several weeks and seeing how I can stretch my creative sewing skills!