My Big Brother and Me: Matching kids across an age gap

The other day I received some really beautiful new custom stretch woven in the waterburst white color-way from the Fabric Fairy, and spent a few days dreaming up some special plans for it. I downloaded a new pattern from a new designer (can you see where this is going??), and in my excitement, skipped straight over the muslin stage and dove right into cutting my new fabric prize.

The pattern had a couple advanced techniques, and as I carefully sewed in my zippers and bias tape, I congratulated myself on doing such a nice job, taking my time, and really enjoying the process.

Unfortunately, as I got to the last step and tried on the shorts, my hopes fell flat- they were a terrible fit on me, to the point of really not being wearable. The construction made the prospect of taking them in to fit unlikely, and the small pieces used eliminated the possibility of repurposing them into anything that would fit my even my smallest model (though I guess doll clothes are always an option?).

As deflated as I was, I wasn’t about to let the entire yard go to waste- I knew I had to come up with a plan to use the small scraps I had left. Looking through my patterns (and my kids’ wardrobes) I decided that both my bigger son and my daughter could use a new pair of shorts (since even going into winter, we plan to chase the sunshine in our RV, so hopefully we’ll still need some warmer weather attire).

Why these two? Well, truth be told, I probably sew the least for my smaller son, and that’s because he inherits all his brother’s clothes- but my daughter needs clothes that fit her feminine style, and my bigger boy seems to outgrow things in the blink of an eye. I really need to make a point of sewing for my “middle” child, since he’s so sweet and appreciative, but the other two are currently more in need, so I thought of them first. They have also always had a really sweet relationship from the beginning, and I knew they’d love to pose together for some photos.

I gave myself the additional challenge of coming up with a pattern set that would work for both, and settled on the Jalie 2918 Men’s tee for their tops (it fits my daughter really well at this age, and the sizes are already traced out from her older brothers- I’ve been using this pattern since they were 2 (8 years!).

Their shorts were made with the Peekaboo Baja Shorts pattern- this versatile little number is gender neutral, offers a simple pocket option, and can be made as a swim suit (as I did in this post) or as a pair of play shorts, as I did here.

The pocket of my son’s shorts was made using the Waterburst boardshort material from Fabric Fairy, and the body of his shorts are a sturdier stretch woven that I’ve had in my stash for a few years.

Both materials wick water, and dry quickly- a bonus for active kids who love water play, and for hang drying in the RV when we are trying to conserve electricity (we plan to camp off grid quite a bit next year).

Oh, and see his cool watch? This is the gizmo watch from Verizon, and these things have been perfect for our new lifestyle. They allow the kids to send and receive calls and texts from only a special set of pre programmed numbers, so they can always call or message us if needed. They  have GPS if we want to track them, and offer the usual watch features, like timers, that they use for school. They also have a fart sound option that I could do without, but the other features outweigh this moderate annoyance (for some reason it NEVER gets less funny to 10 year old boys to make fart sounds).

His t-shirt is made from this heathered teal poly lycra athletic knit. It has a warm hand and a slightly brushed back, which is a good option for him, because he really prefers to wear short sleeves or tanks, even in the winter, but could use a little extra warmth sometimes (even if he won’t admit it!).

My daughter’s shorts used the new print for the side panel, and the brushed athletic knit for the main body of the shorts.

Her long sleeve t-shirt is made from a coordinating aqua stripe fabric– also from Fabric Fairy.

I think at this point, I should be winning some sort of prize for using one fabric vendor and one set of patterns for both kids- that’s got to be some sort of sewing trifecta!

They were both pleased with their new clothes, and are looking forward to wearing them throughout the winter and spring (or at least until the next growth spurt- I swear they’ve been eating 10 meals a day lately!).

Today also marks the end of our first full week as a Fulltime RV Family- and we are still loving it! We met up with some friends we met on the road a couple months ago while we were in Oregon, and hung out at the park for a playdate. For the past week there has also been a family of 7 parked next to us- so plenty of kids to play with there! They’ve been outside nearly 12 hours a day, saving caterpillars from the rain, racing boats in the campground’s canals, and playing tag. It’s delightful to watch them make friends so easily, and helps us get some work done as well!

If you enjoyed this post, you can find all my sewing tutorials HERE on YouTube, or at the top of my blog under the “Sewing Tutorials” link (subscribe HERE).

 

 

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