sewing for my boys

I remember, when I was quite little, wearing clothes my Mom had made for me. I'm not sure how she found the time, with four of us so close in age. (She also knit us sweaters and things. I think she didn't sleep much when I was small). Those hand-made things were always a little more special, although I think they were worn by too many cousins to last until my boys were born.

I also made things for my boys when they were babies. Rompers, sweaters, hats, mittens, and scarves. I don't remember if I shared many of those projects. I don't even know if I have photos of some of them. Anyway, at that age, you can't really tell if they prefer the things you make for them. But now, my boys are old enough to ask for things, and tell me how much they love them!

The shirts in these photos are made from  McCall's M6540. I haven't seen many sewing patterns for boys, and most are pretty basic, or overly fussy. I really liked how this pattern had a simple shirt with a yoke but no collar, and pockets (which are necessary for my kids). And the shorts are super cute (I have a pair cut out of corduroy for Lev, just waiting for some cooler weather for me to sew them up). The dress patterns in this set are nice too, and you certainly don't need to add all those ruffles. A friend of mine, just learning to sew, made one without any trouble.

I decided to make the yoke and pockets of each shirt from some quilting cotton: orange for Lev (his favourite colour), and some pirate ships for Kyr. I faced the yokes with plain white cotton. The other fabric is a nice cotton/linen blend that I used to make a shirt for their Dad. These shirts came together very quickly, maybe 4-5 hours, including cutting out (I'm not really sure, since they were both made over a few days). In the pattern, the pockets are on the chest, with flaps, which didn't seem practical. So I moved them to the lower front, and left off the flaps. As you can see, I made them a little big, so they would fit longer. I think they will also be nice over a long-sleeve t-shirt in the winter.

(I've also made them hats like the one from this pattern. It's a great sun hat, fits most head shapes, and you can make one from 2 fat quarters)

I'm not sure how much longer Lev will be happy to wear things I sew, but I'm so happy he loves this shirt. And I'll certainly get a few more years out of Kyr, before I have to go back to sewing just for myself!