Board shorts for the (almost) birthday boy

Thomas's birthday is in August, right in the middle of the school holidays. Not only does this make him one of the youngest in the year, most of his friends are on holiday on his birthday. For that reason, we have had his party in July for the last couple of years, meaning he ends up getting two celebrations (lucky boy). His party this year was in a party tent we hired in the garden. I decided to make him some shorts to wear. 

I made the kid's board shorts for Thomas from the third Great British Sewing Bee book a couple of years ago, before I started blogging. They are a great way of using up small bits of fabric. The last pair were in grey jersey with a Star Wars panel. They were a big hit due to being so comfy and they still fit now!  I decided to make him another pair in a larger size, which will hopefully last for another couple of years due to the generous fit. 

I used a blue jersey with a fine rib from my stash for the main part of the legs, and some amazing Alexander Henry graffiti fabric for the waistband and side panels. Unusually, this pattern uses stretch and woven fabrics, but they came together well. I added quite a few more rows of shearing than stated in the pattern as I was nervous that they would be too big round the waist. As it turns out, they are a pretty loose fit on the legs but the waist fits fine. A big thumbs up from Thomas who has worn them loads. Unfortunately, it was too cold and rainy for shorts at his party, but he wore them the next day instead!

Holiday stitching - pineapple dress and matching camo t-shirts

I've been quiet this month, not through lack of sewing, but because I've been waiting to get pictures of my latest makes. My last couple of projects have been for our annual October half-term Tenerife trip and I thought it would be nice to get some pics while we were away. We got back last night after a lovely week of sun, sand, lidos, new toys, tapas and relaxing. I also got the photos so I can finally blog about my last few makes. 

The first project was another Shannon dress from Love Sewing magazine. I absolutely love this pattern and have worn my black and grey version loads already. My fabric choice this time was a brilliant pineapple print, also from Girl Charlee at the Handmade Fair. I fell in love with this fabric and bought it on impulse, even though it's totally impractical for autumn/ winter. I decided I would use it to make something for my hols and decided on the Shannon dress because it is so comfortable and so quick to sew. There's not much to say about the construction other than it only takes an evening to sew up on the overlocker. I'm still waiting for my coverpro machine to arrive so I had to finish it on the normal machine but I'm still really pleased with the end result - it's just a shame it's going to be put away until next Summer now!

 

I also bought some camo jersey fabric from Girl Charlee to make a t-shirt for Gareth's birthday. It's not for a couple of weeks, but I wanted to finish it before we went away as I knew I wouldn't have much chance afterwards. I used the men's t-shirt pattern from the GBSB Fashion with Fabric book (from the series before last). I used this pattern to make him a t-shirt ages ago and knew it was a good fit. The best thing about sewing with jersey is how quick it is, and this fabric has a really nice feel. This was another project I could finish in an evening.  I decided to give it to Gareth early so he had a new t-shirt for holiday. 

I had miscalculated how much fabric I needed so ended up with over a metre spare. My sister made the Scout Tee from Grainline studios recently and I fancied making it to, so managed to cut the pattern from the leftover fabric. I liked the instructions and enjoyed sewing this top. However, it is huge! I think I will make the next size down next time and will alter this one as it looks like I'm wearing Gareth's!

Thomas took this picture of us wearing them on holiday (please note - we only wore them at the same time for the photo, we didn't actually go out wearing matching t-shirts!):

 

Rather excitingly, I posted this pic on Instagram while we were away and Girl Charlee included it in their October knit-picks on their blog 

here 

I also received an email update from the brilliant 

SoZo which was a round of Anya bags and included mine. 

It's lovely to be recognised for doing what I love!