I did it... I finally accomplished one of my sewing goals!!
You have no idea how many sewing projects I've started and never finished, how many projects I want to do and buy the supplies and never even start, or how many sew alongs I've wanted to join in and give up half way through. Well not this time! I love the sewing competition over at Project Run and Play and last season I decided I wanted to enter the sew along. Did it happen? Of course not! But this season I have a goal to enter at least three weeks (of 6) and so far so good! I have been chained to my sewing machine for the last 72 hours in order to complete this look. The thought of sewing one more stitch makes me nauseous, but I'm oh so happy I finally completed one of my sewing goals!!!
Now, onto the competition! This week was the Fashion Icon challenge. Knowing I'd be sewing this outfit for my little boy, the first person that came to mind whose sense of fashion I would love to see on my little boy was Don Draper from Mad Men. After a lot of research though, I realized he mainly wears white collard shirt, well tailored suit, and skinny tie. I was a little disheartened because I was stuck on the idea of bow tie and suspenders. But after talking to my father (who grew up in the 60's) he recalled that they often wore bow tie and suspenders. So I've designed my outfit in a sort of Don Draper-60's child kind of way, make sense? And if you didn't follow my train of thought at all then we'll just say that Pip was my fashion icon.
So without further ado, here is Wade in all his 60's style glory!
And doesn't he just looked thrilled to be modeling?
All in all I made the suit pants, the suspenders, the bow tie, and yes! I made the button up, while collared shirt!
First up, the shirt:
By far the hardest piece to sew, but I'm so pleased with the end result! I used the Maxwell Pattern from Shwin&Shwin as the starting off point for my shirt. Truthfully I didn't change that much, it was just a matter of leaving off a lot of the embellishments. And of course making the short sleeves into long sleeves. It has everything from interfacing in the collar, top-stitching, buttons and button holes, facings, and even a back yoke! I just love how it turned out and the fit is perfect! Definitely worth the very long time it took me to sew it!
Next, the suit pants:
I took an old pair of my husbands suit pants that no longer fit and refashioned them into what you see here. I used this tutorial as a guide, but used a well fitting pair of Wade's pants for the pattern since I wasn't going for the super slim look. Those were a pain to carefully deconstruct (who knew there was so much going on on the inside!) but happy with how they turned out. They have everything from belt loops, to zipper fly, to button and hook and clasp closure. Granted I didn't do any of that, but it still took skill to put everything back together miniature size! The also feature an elastic back for comfort/room to grow. If you ever try this out for yourself, do not try and use the existing back pockets! I tried but his butt stuck out a mile and a half because of how much bulk was behind those pockets. In the end I cut out as much of the pocket as I could and carefully hand sewed the pockets shut so there is still the illusion of pockets. It was the biggest pain, but I'm glad it worked out!
And finally the accessories:
I made a cute little bow tie out of the same suiting material as the pants. It's cute, but the suspenders are to die for! Just a yard of black knit elastic and four mitten clips later and we have suspenders! I just sewed the cross in the back where I thought it looked good and that's all there is to it. So simple, and now I'm kicking myself for not making a pair sooner!
And that is my Don Draper inspired 60's little boy outfit. Congrats if you made it to the end of my post, now you can enjoy a few bloopers!
He's winking at me!
