It seems like forever that I have been waiting for a book about sewing clothes for boys and I know there are many of you out there in the same boat. The women behind the successful pattern line, Pattern for Figgy have come to the rescue! Their first book, Sewing for Boys, is full of nicely designed boy’s clothes for every season and a few accessories to boot.

Shelly and Karen have really thought through what boys need and want: the clothes have to be comfortable (even if they are for dressing up), durable, washable, and above all have lots of pockets! And a carrying case for legos and lego dudes is pretty awesome too.

When got the book, I opened it up to the first page and fell in love with the Henry shirt. The shirt is a short sleeve, snap up, collar shirt with pockets–much like a guayabera shirt, or what we used to call “old man casual” shirts (only because my dad used to wear them). But it is just right for little boys too. And it is just right for showing off that bit of cute boy fabric you have been saving. The Henry shirt in the book is made with a beautifully subtle airplane fabric designed by Daniela Caine of Tangerine Samurai.

I thought I had chosen beautiful fabrics as well: a double sided japanese fabric with checks on one side and plaid on the other; and a soft cotton in navy. Well, it turns out when you put them together it looks like my son works at a hot dog cart franchise or as a refrigerator repair man. It is a bad uniform.

But it is a bad uniform with a stand up collar that I made! The project was definitely above my current sewing skills (it is labeled advanced, but don’t worry there are projects for every level in the book). I was nervous going into it, especially when I didn’t see a picture for every step–I’m more of a visual learner. Turns out it was better that there were fewer diagrams because it made me read the directions more closely. And the directions in this book are clear and very succinct. They taught me how to make this shirt and I didn’t pull out one hair or have to mix up a cocktail to get through it.

Granted, I still managed to sew the yoke on completely upside down and had to unpick the whole thing, but cut me some slack I’ve never made a button up shirt before. Well, almost a button shirt–it doesn’t actually have buttons on it yet.  I’m trying to find some that will make it a little less bad uniform. The pattern calls for snaps, which is perfect for boys, but I think snaps will take this shirt into even worse uniform territory.

The directions are good, the patterns are basic and beautiful, and the pictures are pretty cute too. So really, if you sew and you have boys you need this book.   But hoodies, tee shirts, tunics, girls wear all those things too. Even though this book says it’s for boys, whatever, let’s not get all sexist with our sewing machines now.  Next on my list is the two-in-one reversible jacket–it’s labeled intermediate, so I’m not too nervous.

If you would like to know more about this book or the other craft books published by Wiley, head on over to their site where they have Q & As with the authors and a few free projects too. And you can follow along on the Sewing for Boys book tour:

September 5 Made by Rae
September 6 Sew, Mama, Sew
September 7 The Southern Institute & Film in the Fridge
September 8 Elsie Marley
September 9 Noodlehead & Oh, Fransson!
September 10 I Heart Linen
September 11 Anna Maria Horner
September 12 Craft Buds, Pink Chalk Fabric, Prudent Baby, Sew Much Ado
September 13 Very Purple Person, Quilt Story & Sew Sara
September 14 The Long Thread
September 15 Susan Beal
September 16 True Up
September 17 All Buttoned Up & Bolt Fabric Boutique
September 18 MADE & Wiley Craft

This coat has been a long time coming. I started it right after I finished making my son’s coat–high off success I suppose–but it stalled soon after when she tried on the rough draft (umm, what do you call the outer shell of the coat, a mock up?) and said, “ewww, I don’t like it.” So it sat in a pile for a loooong while. Then I started looking around for something to line it with and couldn’t find anything big enough to line the whole coat which bummed me out, so it sat some more. I decided to hell with it I would just patch together different sweaters to line it even if it makes it look extra handmade.

Really I probably shouldn’t have lined it. I wanted to just use fabric from my stash (because seriously the stash has to get smaller) and everything is, but the coat doesn’t hang right at all. The pattern is from Carefree Clothes for Girls, which I was really excited about, but I’m not super happy with this pattern (I combined the short coat shape with the long coat length). It’s raglan sleeve, which I love, but it different from the other raglan sleeve things I’ve done in that it has a seem down the top of the arm. So there are four pieces for the sleeves and they are sewn separately to the front and to the back and then the front and back pieces are joined by sewing down the top of both arms. I think this takes away the ease of raglan sleeves and gives the coat extra bulk it just doesn’t need. Oh and I added in seam pockets, which doesn’t help with the bulk issue either, but they’re handy.

Because I didn’t really like it, but didn’t want to abandon it I slapped on some ruffles a la j.crew so I would like it more. And it worked. My daughter was anxious for me to finish it, but damn if those sew on snaps don’t take forever to sew on.  While I was sewing on all those snaps my daughter danced around excited for it to be done, then she tried it on and hated it. It is a little big and hangs weird, so I don’t really blame her. But still. Maybe next year she’ll like it more. Until then she’ll wear it to church because her mother will make her.