Waistcoats for my boys!

As a mother of 3 boys, I'll admit there have been moments when I wish I had a little girl to dress up.  Especially once I started sewing.  Now, my need for a girl begins and ends there. I rather enjoy being the only girl in the house - mainly because my small boys think I'm a princess because they've nothing to compare me to!  I'm pretty fortunate that my boys do enjoy their style.  They love accessories - hats, ties, dickie-bows, backpacks and they have a thing for shoes.  In fact, they really differ on their choice of shoes whereas they love to match in almost everything else!

Anyway - I'm a quilter.  I don't sew domestic, my husband is chief button-sew-on-person in this house so the biggest clothing undertaking I have made is to mass produce a bunch of dickie bows about a year ago!


                                      

I have wanted to try other items but I honestly felt I'd mess it up big time!  But this year, with our annual 3-day convention in Dublin coming up, I was finding it difficult to source suitable, dressy clothes.  The boys happened to be growing out of most of their decent clothes.  So on a real lastminute.com, I found a pattern a couple nights before we left and started making my first real item of clothing for the boys!

This pattern was mega.  Very easy to follow, straightforward instructions.

                                         
 
  Thank you to the talented lady who put it together.  If you fancy trying it yourself, check her out here!
It took me a few hours to put it all together, I was making two of them though!  I was also using the polyester lining for the first time.  I bought a very thin one, I would probably go for the more expensive thicker one next time but for no reason in particular, I bought the cheap one just assuming I would mess it up - but I didn't! 

                                                       


The only difficulty I had with the pattern was trying to figure out where to sew on the shoulders.  Once I thought it through though, it was straightforward - I guess I was just tired the night before when I got to that point!  And once that was done, I was at the end very swiftly and all of a sudden, ta-dahhhhhhh, I had two full size 4 year old funky waistcoats!!!!


                                      



Of course I made them matching dickie-bows too!  I just forgot to take a picture of them! These two little men wore their waistcoats with pride and told lots of people that their mammy made them!  It's sweet when they appreciate your efforts!

So who knows what's next...... after the quilts still on my to-do list, of course!

Bowtie, Dickie Bows, neckties.......whatever ya call 'em!

These are definitely a few of my favourite things right now!

So recently I finally made my first dickie bow! 


You know how there are certain things you want to try but just never get round to it..... well, a friend posted on facebook looking for one.  Her super stylish son needed a red spotty one to finish off his outfit for a wedding. 

Now this lad is one seriously funky little boy and I hated to think of him heading out without his accessory of choice so I took the opportunity to finally try a bowtie and help him sort out his outfit!  It worked out grand........ a bit rough around the edges as "firsts" usually are but he fairly ROCKED it judging by the pictures I saw.


I got an opportunity to fine tune my method however as having seen Jacks one my twins decided they loved bowties all of a sudden!

They've always loved accessories - hats and shoes are big items in our house but now it was...
"I want a green bowtie"
"I want a red bowtie"

Since I have nothing to do all day, every day (tongue in cheek, I promise) I went for it and indulged them!  They were thrilled, especially when everyone told them how smart they looked in them.  In fact, a couple of grown men were a little jealous of the red car fabric and the green animal fabric.    There is definitely something fun about bow-ties, even though they are mostly seen with formal tuxes, they someone seem a little less formal than ties and allow your inner child to pop out!


As we had a weekend coming up where they got to dress-up nice and smart each day, it meant that I got a good bit of practice in but it was well worth it as they were nicely turned out and looked darn cute alongside their buddies in Dublin!  I'm not done yet though........ I picked up a few orders from other little boys while we were away so it's back to the sewing machine for me.  Next time the boys meet their friends, they'll have even more in common!



I've just realised that these two are like little Ant & Dec, they always seem to stand to the same side of each other!  I still don't know which is which though.......... Ant and/or Dec, I mean......... I know these two, obviously!