A Little Boy's Easter Outfit

Another challenge for long distance fitting is little boy outfits. I also smocked and stitched an outfit for our grandson for Easter. So when I requested measurements for the granddaughters I also asked for his. I knew I was short of time so I surmised an uncomplicated outfit for him would be best. Something that buttoned at the shoulder, like an overall, that he could wear with or without a shirt or t-shirt. And he's old enough not to need a snap crotch style. So the most important measurement for him was from the center of his shoulder, down and through the crotch and back up to meet the tape measure at the same shoulder. Basically one big elongated circle measurement. I certainly didn't want to put all the work into the outfit and not have enough length for him to wear it for awhile! The rest of the measurements were easy since he's lean, and not too tall just yet. I used another Children's Corner pattern which is out of print now ("Jeffery") which buttons at the shoulders and has a smocked insert across the front. The old pattern comes with two tabs that can be sewn onto the sides to pull the waist area in a little, but I didn't put those on. The shirt (not included in the pattern) was a basic boys shirt with a round piped collar and piped short sleeves that buttons down the back: dressy enough for special occasions.

I had a wonderful small plaid cotton/poly blend fabric in black, royal blue and kelly green that was perfect for the outfit, and I used a white cotton/poly for the shirt. The shirt pattern is from the out-of-print book Heirloom Sewing for Jack and Jill by Martha Pullen. I made piping out of the plaid for the shirt, and also used some of it on the suit. When choosing a smocking design I kept in mind that he loves cars and trucks right now, so of course, the design had to have cars on it.  I found the perfect design in a Sew Beautiful Magazine (Issue 131, 2010) by Michie Mooney called "Traffic Jam". It featured all red cars on denim blue so I changed the colors to work with my chosen fabric. Our grandson is learning his colors so I decided to use primary colors for the cars: red, blue, green, yellow and gray so he can point them out on his outfit. Here is the result, and he looks mighty happy:

Love those cowboy boots!!!

And here's a photo of all the grand children in their Easter outfits:

Three happy children in clothing that they can wear for a while because of good long distance measuring, fine fabrics and trims and a lot of love!