Challenge #5 at Project Run & Play is The Men’s Dress Shirt Challenge. I adore upcycling things, so I was really excited about this week. So excited that I visited multiple local thrift stores to dig through the dress shirts on several occasions. (I actually purchased a total of eight dress shirts with at least six different ideas in mind. Thanks to thrift store prices, though, I spent less than $30 for all eight!)In the end, I settled on the two 100% cotton shirts above.  I’ve been rotating between sewing for Jamie, Charlie and Katie, and this week was Jamie’s week.  With a size 6 to sew, I needed plenty of fabric.  These are both X-large shirts.  The seersucker shirt is an X-large tall!  I had originally planned to do something a little more exciting with the Hawaiian shirt.  At least more exciting than turning a big Hawaiian shirt into a little Hawaiian shirt.  My plan was to use my camp shirt pattern, but instead of the collar, I was going to sew in a hood.  I tried the hood.  Really.  It’s still thrown on the floor of my sewing room right behind me.  After ripping it off and sewing it back on twice, I still wasn’t entirely happy with it.  I reached a point where I took a look at the partially finished shirt with the hood attached and wondered to myself if I was just sewing in the hood to make the shirt look different for this blog post, never to be worn again.  My practical side won out, and Jamie has a new outfit that is cute, well-made and wearable, even if it is a little un-imaginative! This outfit was made for the beach, and we happen to live less than a 10-minute drive from the beach, AND we were blessed with beautiful beach weather today.  (Have I mentioned how much I love being back in Florida?)Doesn’t this make you want to come dig your toes in the sand?Oh, yes, the outfit!  For the top, I started with my Everyday Camp Shirt pattern, the same one that I used for Jamie’s bowling shirt in Week 2 of PR&P.  This time, I added angled yokes to the front of the shirt and the bias-cut pocket.  (Love the bias-cut pocket!)  I also used metal snaps because Jamie prefers them to buttons which are harder for him to do on his own. The original men’s shirt had side seam vents and a drop tail that I thought were perfect for the casual beach look, so I recreated them. I was able to cut the shirt out in such a way that I could re-use the original hems on both the body and the sleeves, but I wasn’t quite able to line up the stripes on the side.  Eh.  I think the pattern is busy enough that it’s not really noticeable.The shorts are Mud Puddle Splashers!  (I finally got the pants update for the MPS pattern to my testers last night, and I’m hoping to have the finished pattern ready for sale in the next couple of weeks.  You guys have been so patient with me during our move and settling in period!  New patterns are coming. I promise!)  I love the Mud Puddle Splashers for simple, easy, everyday little boy pants.  These have the side-seam pockets, the faux fly and the back pockets.  (I failed to get any good pictures of the details on the shorts.  I was a little too busy just enjoying watching my little ones enjoy the beach  . . .  in February!) I heard on the radio today that there’s a blizzard blowing in up north, so I’ll leave you with a few more pictures of Jamie’s fun at the beach on this warm morning.   (You may feel free to remind me of this post in the middle of July when you’re enjoying comfortable evenings with your windows open, and I’ve barricaded myself in my air-conditioned house because of the sweltering Florida summer heat.)

 
This week’s theme at Project Run & Play is “Love is in the Air”, and I was excited to sew something for my granddaughter, Katie, again this week!  I’ve had this Chickadee interlock and the coordinating Hearts hoarded in my stash for years, and I’m so glad that I finally dug them out and used them.  They’re perfect for Valentine’s Day, aren’t they?
 
 
I used the laptee from my Wee Tot Collection as the base for this little dress.  My time was really limited this week because of some other exciting projects that I have in the works.  (Be sure to check back here on Friday for a new tutorial and an opportunity to use your sewing talents to give to children in need!)  With only one afternoon to sew, I knew I needed to grab a pattern that I not only know really well, but also one that goes together really fast.  I think it’s so important to have a handful of patterns that fall into that category.  For me, all of those patterns are sewn with knit fabrics.  (I can sew a Charlie Tee from cutting to finish in less than an hour every time.)
 
 
My modifications give this dress some great character, and they actually saved me even more time!  The only time this dress touched the sewing machine was when I topstitched the neckline.  Everything else was done on the serger.  I trimmed a bit off of the sleeve and added a band to finish it off.  To give the body of the dress a little poofiness, I cut it into an A-line and finished the bottom off with a band several inches shorter than the width of the bottom edge.
 
I think the bow might be the one thing that makes this whole outfit, and it’s the first bow that I’ve ever made!  It’s just a couple of simple loops of fabric with several pieces of fabric pulled through the smaller loop to make a “bow”.  The button was a last minute addition because I didn’t like that the bow part kept sliding and exposing the seam.  All of the edges were left raw and just tucked under.
 
 
Katie seems to really like the chickadees.
 
 
See! There’s a smile!
 

 
It’s Boy Week at PR&P!  I sew for my boys all the time, but I still enjoyed coming up with an idea that is all about my boys!  One of the loves that all of my boys, from oldest to youngest, share is the hunt for Punch Buggies.  My 19-year-old son, Sean, is the one who taught the little ones to spot them.  They aren’t allowed to actually punch anyone when they see one, of course, but my six-year-old Jamie is a champ at spying VW Beetles from blocks away!  (Sean’s halfway across the country from us in college now, and the little ones occasionally ask me to text him pictures of Punch Buggies just so that he knows they’re still looking.) 
 
Since I sewed for Jamie last week, Charlie got this week’s outfit.  (I’ll have to make a Punch Buggy shirt for Jamie later, though, or there might be a revolt.)  I drafted up a Beetle design and used the freezer-paper stenciling technique to paint it on a Patrick Curved Raglan. 
 
 

I used some color-blocking again this week.  This time it was a necessity since I didn’t discover that I was short on fabric until I had already planned the whole outfit.  I got creative with it, though, and added a unexpected second car on the back.  If I hadn’t told you, would you have even guessed that I didn’t plan it this way all along?
 
 

The red shorts are really my favorite part of this outfit.  After seeing the red pants that Suzanne from Winter Wonderings, Wanderings, & Whatnot made for her little guy’s Collegiate Cool Look last week, I just had to make red pants for Charlie.  I opted for shorts since we live in Florida, and shorts get far more use here than long pants.  I wanted to make them with red denim, but red denim isn’t easy to come by, especially locally.  A quick trip to one of our local thrift shops, though, turned up the perfect pair of recyclable red jeans!
 

 
I made some minor modifications to my Inside or Out Pocket Pants pattern including reusing the main structure of the front pockets from the original jeans.  I did have to reconstruct one of them to remove the watch pocket, and I ripped out and redid the topstitching so that it would match the remainder of the shorts.  Speaking of the topstitching, I considered using some brown denim accents on these, but in the end, I decided against it so that the shorts could be worn with multiple tops. Instead, I let the white topstitching be the accent.
 
 
The back pockets are those from the IOOP pattern with twin needle topstitching.
 
 
I added a gusseted cargo pocket and used the pattern’s pocket flap with the addition of a metal snap.
 
 
Charlie loves this outfit and couldn’t wait to put it on.  Is that not the sweetest smile?  I can’t help but notice, though, that those twin curls on either side of his forehead make him look quite mischievous.
 
 
Charlie put the whole outfit to the “boy test” by running, jumping, rolling, falling, etc. in the backyard, and I think it passed with flying colors!
 
 
While this week is all about the boys, there were quite a few little boy outfits sewn up the first two weeks, too! I love that! Our little guys are so often neglected when it comes to handmade clothing. It makes me smile to see so many moms making the effort to sew for them, too!