Sew Americana 2018 Tour

Welcome to Day 4 of the 2018 Sew Americana Blog Tour, hosted by Katy at Wild & Wanderful! This is my second time participating – last year I made this pair of shorts and tank top for myself. This year, I decided I would stash bust (woo hoo!) and make my 4 year old son a pair of shorts and button down shirt. Button down shirts are his favorite thing to wear, especially when they have a pocket (hello “dinosaur bone” and rock collecting!).

For this photoshoot, I decided to take my kids to a nearby county park.

Yesterday.

Because I couldn’t get my act together and finish this outfit weeks ago… even though I signed up to sew this um, 2 months ago.

And it rained.

Poured!

So we took some snaps just as the rain was starting, dashed inside the visitor center to pet some snake skins and scream in delight at turtles and frogs, and then after a picnic of PB&J, grabbed a few more shots as the sun was starting to peak through the clouds.

This time around, I decided to use my 70-200mm 1:2.8 lens, but getting non-blurry images was challenging. I probably need to use a tripod with this lens because it’s super heavy. And I think I have a problem with my camera so I really need to get it in for a checkup. I’m bracing for the pain of that, because my regular lens (24-70mm 2.8) definitely needs repair too :-(.

For this outfit I used my ever faithful Oliver+S Sketchbook Shirt pattern in a size 3 lengthened to 4. I’ve made this shirt a bunch of times (here, here, here and here) but I think I’m ready to try something new – I really want to do a real two-piece collar and add some twill tape to the inside collar seam. Hit me up with your favorite boy’s button down shirt with two-piece collar!!

For the fabric, I used this fantastic blue and white star Stenzo Poplin from Mabel Madison. I actually bought this fabric YEARS ago – in fact I think it was in my first order from them! My goal was *always* to make a sketchbook shirt for my son with it, but I just never got around to it. I think they have just a teensey-weensey bit of this fabric left, but they do have LOTS of other awesome Stenzo poplins in cool prints! If you’ve only ever made kids shirts and dresses with quilting cotton, try poplin next time! It has a much nicer hand and drape for clothing, and the colors stay vibrant!

I thought it would be fun to go a little literal with the pocket on this shirt, and used some red and white striped quilting cotton that I had on hand. I finished it off with a strip of folded poplin.

I shared a sneak of this shirt on Instagram the other day, and showed the tool I use for marking my buttonholes. It’s a (aff link) Simflex Expanding Sewing Gauge and it’s all kinds of awesome for button and buttonhole placement! I just mark the top and bottom and use the gauge to evenly space out the rest. Love it!

This was my first time sewing the Oliver+S Sketchbook SHORTS! I’ve been meaning to sew them for years, but always gravitate to the basic Oliver+S Sunny Day Shorts instead. For this pair, I used some red stretch twill from G-Street Fabrics that I had leftover from making my eldest the Oliver+S Secret Agent Trench Coat when she was 3!! I still have a bit of it left, so now I’m scheming what else I can make with it!

For this pair, I cut a size 2T and lengthened it to 4T. They still kind of swim on him and I thought I had the right length of elastic but after he wore them for a bit, they started falling down. Seriously. Stick kid. I guess I’ll unpick them and adjust the elastic…. another time!

(In go the rocks. Need to remember to take these out before laundry day!)

(“Look mum! A dinosaur bone! I’m going to put it in my pocket!”)

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope I’ve inspired you to make something for the boys in your life today! Remember to check out the rest of the blog tour for some amazing inspiration!
Monday, June 25:
Wild + Wanderful | Marvelous Auntie M | Handmade Boy
Phat Quarters | Call Ajaire
Tuesday, June 26:
Musings of a Seamstress | Sea of Estrogen | Sew and Tell Project
5 out of 4 Patterns | Little Heart Threads
Wednesday, June 27:
Middle River Studio | Elli & Nels | SewSophieLynn
Pear Berry Lane | The Eli Monster
Thursday, June 28:
Auschick Sews | EYMM | Mama & Leia
Seams Sew Lo | Stitched by Jennie
Friday, June 29:
Stylin’ Stacy | Rebel & Malice | On Wednesdays We Sew
FairyTale BT | That’s-Sew-Kari | Very Blissful