Match With Me: Mommy-Son Sewing Series

Today, I am honored and excited to be a part of the Match With Me sewing series created by Stacey of Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts. It's a sewing series created for moms and sons, which is great because I am a mommy and I just happen to have have two sons. 

My first thought when Stacey asked me to participate was, "Holy crap! She asked me to participate!  I'm totally doing this!"  I was excited and nervous.  And then there was a lot of life happening, and I pushed that thought to the back of my very cluttered and somewhat disorganized mind.  So, when Stacey emailed me again recently to remind me what I had signed up for, my first thought was "Holy Crap! What am I going to make!" and then, very shortly afterward "I better get to work... now!"

Little Brother and I made a trip to Joann's last weekend and found several suitable items for the task, and bonus it was Veteran's Day and they were having a sale and super bonus, it was on the clearance rack, which was 50% off.  Woohoo! (Admission: I probably had several perfectly reasonable items in my stash, but, well...  I have a problem.)  While we were waiting to get our fabric cut (which mind you took around 45 minutes) I devised a plan.  Little brother was very helpful in this process, he had several things the he wanted me to make, including a prince costume with pants and a shirt and also a pirate cowboy prince vest and a pair of flannel pj pants with doggies on them. But, I digress.   I knew I didn't have enough time to make all three of us full outfits, so I opted to do tops and a vest, or two, if time allowed (Little Brother was set on having that vest).  I wanted each piece to coordinate, but also to be unique, because one-of-a-kind is kind of my thing.  So here's what I came up with...

Thanks to my wonderful and patient husband for taking all the great photos.

For Little Brother, first and foremost, I got the vest taken care of.  It was a desperate situation I tell ya.  I started with a BBC Vest, and made a few changes.  Instead of a shawl style I lowered the collar to make it stand up and fold over a bit, if he wants.  Also it's got this black and white chevron fleece on the inside, that he picked out, making it completely reversible!  You can see in the above picture he's thrilled (it was really cold, BLAST YOU POLAR VORTEX!!!). He also got, one of my favorite patterns to make, a Recess Raglan with some color-blocked shoulder patches.  Overall I think his look came came out really well.  His belt and "sword cuff" are mommy made, his jeans came from FabKids, and shoes from Target.

For Big Brother, I started with one of my other favorites, the Rigby Polo.  I omitted the front placket and took some width out of each side, lengthened the sleeves, and added a neckband.  The pocket is made from the same faux leather as Little Brother's vest.  Time did not permit the making of a second vest before the shoot, but there is one in the works.  Big Brother repeatedly requested one just like Little Brother's.  Jeans again from FabKids and shoes from Old Navy.

My top is a self-drafted, kind of swingy style top with some color-blocking and shoulder accents for interest.  I created some large box pleats that end right below the bust line. Super flattering for me and my four-baby-mummy-tummy.  I didn't hem the sleeves or the bottom, because I really liked the look it created when the edges rolled, and it's knit, so I don't have to.  I used the faux leather for the shoulder accents to match the color-blocking in Little Brother's top and then decided to do the reverse of Big Brother's color-blocking on the chest. 

I love my boys so much and making these matching tops was so much fun for all of us.  They loved the idea and were thrilled to have a chance to match with their mommy.  Thank you so much for asking me to join, Stacey, I had a great time participating in this series.  

This is the final day of the series and in case you've missed any of the other fabulous mommy/son outfits, be sure you head over to Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts and check them out!

And in case you haven't had enough, here are some more pics, courtesy of my wonderful, helpful, and not to mention, dashing husband.

 (It's really cold, lets huddle together)

 (pretty awesome picture hun!)

(this shows the inside of Little Brother's vest)

 (This was an unintentional, learning to use the camera mistake, but its really cool)

yay for hay!