Hello
What’s everyone making or trying to get done for christmas? I’ve been trying to find some ideas for gifts with or with out the embroidery designs I’ve been collecting over the year.
Anyone have ideas for a xmas outfit for a 5 year old boy who wants to wear nothing but jeans and tshirts?
thanks and happy holidays!
Jeanette
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Busy, busy with the Christmas sewing here. Dresses for the girls (all done but one yeah!!), fleece stuff (the tie blankets and pillow cases to match), and doll clothes for the girls presents. I am wanting to make me a Christmas apron but sewing projects for me always seem to get on the back burner LOL
You could aplique a Christmas picture on to a polo and maybe your son would wear a polo and kahkis or if not it could still be cute with nice jeans.
What about getting colored jeans? Black is always nice. I love dressing up the hems and side seams on mine with fabric paint, but that seems more of a "girl" thing. As for the tshirt, look for a Christmas-y iron-on transfer (or make your own with fusible web). You can embellish this with paints or machine embroidery.
As far as my own Christmas sewing, I've designed and cut out fleece jackets based on one I made for myself last year. These will be presents for my mom and sister, who are always trying to steal my jacket! My boyfriend is asking for more homemade boxers this year. The other relatives (aunt and uncles) will be getting Christmas angels (like the ones you'd put on a tree). And I have one cat house to make. Finishing all that, I will finally be able to cut into the green velvet I bought for my own dress...
~Cat
You could make that 5-year-old boy jean-style pants using a nice corduroy--either a soft, velvety wide-wale or a very fine "baby"-wale (don't tell him it's called that, though), or even an unsheared (which looks like a cross between corduroy and velveteen. In a deep, rich green or navy blue, these shouldn't seem girlish, babyish, or too fussy. For a top, would he wear a mock turtleneck? Those sometimes look slightly dressier than a standard crew-neck. Some kind of sophisticated color-blocking could be fun and provide interest, and still be wearable after the holidays are over.
Unless you live in Florida, in which case these suggestions are a little off-base! It's been below freezing for a while here so I can't think outside the winter box anymore.
Carol
Would you describe "color-blocking" to me? Sounds interesting but I'm not sure exactly what you mean. But I certainly know what you mean by "the winter box"!
rjf
I was thinking of something like making the upper chest and upper back in one color, with the rest of the shirt some contrasting color, perhaps with piping along the seams. Or divide the shirt vertically, about a third of the way across, and make one panel a contrasting color. You could do this with just two colors, or a bunch, whatever pleases your eye and the taste of the wearer. This can give a kind of sporty, rugby-like look, or a Star Trek uniform effect (best avoided for people over 10 years of age). Or something more subtle and sophisticated depending on the colors.
Carol
Ten years ago, my now fifteen year old son was equally fond of his t-shirts and jeans. He was willing to wear navy corduroy jeans though and since it is cold in New York, he did not refuse a white knit turtleneck top. We had church and social functions which necessitated a less casual look and my solution turned out to be one of his favorite garments that year: A scarlet velveteen vest. The vest was just long enough to cover the jeans style pocket tops and placket snap. It was also very cozy and smooth because I lined it with charmeuse. No doubt a similar garment out of fleece would be a more up-to-date look.
If a t-shirt is mandatory, I think that double ribbing around the neck can add a fair amount of flare--such as a red t-shirt with red neck ribbing and under the red ribbing, another layer of ribbing in navy or dark green, just 3/8th of an inch wider than the red ribbing.
Don't forget to take a picture. There is nothing like looking back ten or more years from now and seeing your then little-one in something cute for the holidays!
That vest is a great idea! You reminded me of a beautiful paisley vest with scarlet lining that my mother made for my older brother in 60 or 61. My younger brother wore it too. Then, being a small girl, I got it. By that time it was the late 60s and a vest with a gathered "granny" skirt was a fashionable thing for a girl to wear. (with a blouse with very full sleeves. Remember those clothes?)
Ah, but I digress. My sons, 6 and 8, only want to wear sweat pants and tee shirts! For holidays, I can get them into dressier fabrics in the pants, but not into slacks. They have necklaces that have one jingle bell- very unisex- that they like. So I put them in dark pants and white turtle necks with their jingle bells, and that's our holiday compromise. Sometimes, though, I just think that if the faces are clean, it's dressed up enough.
Yes, getting that face clean seems like a real triumph sometimes! I remember that my sisters and I were always really well dressed (mostly in dresses made by Mom, of course), with white tights and patent leather shoes and even hats and gloves for the pre-70s Easters. How did my mother ever manage to get the outifts organized and then all of us clean, with nice hair, and into them?! And for the most part, I seem to remember that we stayed pretty clean. Miraculous.
I love the vest idea; even sweater vests look very dapper on little boys. My own son, who's 6, has always had a penchant for bowties. Go figure!
Carol
OK, this is past Christmas.. but one of my boys was a t-shirt and sweats boy for many years... One year I bought a wonderful African fabric, It was a purple cotton brocade with batiked white fish,, I made my three kids bottoms in the fabric.. a skirt for my daughter and sweatpants styled pants for my two boys. They wore their bottoms with white turtlenecks for Passover and looked pretty spiffy. I think that a new t-shirt can pass as nice clothes.. a square of the pants fabric as an applique on the shirt makes it look a bit dressier. Basically, my kid's comfort comes before social dictates. There is something about the thee kids in the same fabric that made the whole thing look fancier than it actually was.
I have also made sweatpant styled pants out of foulard printed cotton velveteen( out of a thrift shop skirt)... they really did look dressy , and out of lush courderoy and from linen.
think about dressing your boys like they are architects or in the advertising business rather than accountants from 1960 (vest and bowtie) it may make things easier for the tshirt only boys.
sarah kayla
Edited 1/5/2003 9:08:23 PM ET by SARAHKAYLA
Thanks for the ideas and we live in Canada so they are very useful!
He's way into fleece so I mmay head there plus birthdays are coming up!
Hi!
The original posting was looking for what we were making for Christmas gifts this year. I found the coolest pattern recently for slippers. These are fleece slippers, and they don't look like booties or socks, but like real slippers! The padding in the sole is made of carpet padding! It's from Timber Lane Press, Pattern #702, called "Foot Prints". I haven't started them yet, but I'm pretty excited about them--a good way to use up those small scraps of fleece, too!
Linda
For the five year old who only wears t-shirts and jeans: Have you seen those iron-on prints Daisy Kingdom has of airplanes, trains, and tractors? I don't know if they still carry them, but I wanted to use them on MY clothing! I thought they might be a nice embellishment for little boy clothes.
I have to gloat for a second about my Christmas sewing. While my boyfriend has been at work, I've been sneaking into his closet to copy a pattern from one of his favorite dress shirts...I feel so super sly! Tonight, I'm cutting the fabric which I'm going to print and paint once the garment is assembled. I'm also making sunprinted photo rock and roll pillows for some friends, but I've been having trouble with my cyanotypes, so I may have to resort to photocopy transfer/screenprints...
Please take a picture to post when it's done. rjf
Several years ago when my own dss was that age I made everyone in the family "zoo" pants that were a big hit. Think 80's style baggy pants. They all had drawstrings at the waist and elastic at the ankles. I then took one of the motifs from the fabric and fused it down to a t-shirt in a shade that coordinated with the material and then satin stitched it down. Way cool when you use an animal or other cartoon character that is really popular with him to do this with. Plus you can do a very classy look by varying the fabric choices and subbing a turtle neck for the t-shirt. I also made them out of flannel for pj's and also embroidered a bath robe with his monogram on it. He thought this was the best because he was just starting to understand about the bath robe being a luxury hotel kind of thing so he said it made him feel that he was always on vacation. The one thing as far as dressing them at that age is they need to be confortable and it won't really matter if they look nice if they are going to get an attitude problem then it is not worth it. Besides which, a 5 year old can pretty much pull off any fashion statement more so than at age 50. Good luck and let us know what you do.
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