February Monthly Stitch Project: Mr. Smarty Pants

The Monthly Stitch theme for February was pants. Out of all the members of our household who need pants, Romeo is the one who needed them the most, so I made him so new jeans.

Obviously I did not make the top part of his outfit, would you believe that the shirt and hoodie came from Old Navy? All the jeans in his closet also came from Old Navy, but after 1 1/2 (or is it 2 1/2?) years, they are starting to wear out, one hole in the knees at a time.

I used Ottobre 1/2014, design #37. The line drawings and finished examples in the magazine have a distressed look, but I skipped that, since the distressing process makes the fabric weaker so it doesn’t last as long. I need boy’s jeans that last as close to forever as they can. It was a nice basic pattern to put together, and I made the size 128, which is the smallest size for this pattern, so I foresee many more of these over the next few years. For the next pair, I’m going to add some elastic to the waistband. The pattern doesn’t call for it, but Romeo is really slim, so he needs it.

The fabric is part of a very large piece of dark blue stretch denim from my stash, making this another #sewbluefebruary project. Romeo likes green, so I used green topstitching thread. The pocket linings and waistband are made of bacon-themed quilting cotton.

They passed the legitimacy test; when he wore them to school no one noticed that he was wearing anything special. As far as I know, that’s the main goal to aim for when making kid’s jeans, especially for boys.

I don’t know what impression he was doing for this picture, but here you go.

It was hat day at school, so he has a hat. His siblings had hats too, even Ace who isn’t in school yet borrowed his Dad’s hat to join in. Gru-cat opted for no hat, a practical decision considering how much pouncing he does on a daily basis.

Guinevere’s hoodie is another one like the one I made her a couple months ago. The cuffs are extra long with thumb holes so she can keep her hands warm.

Stash busting stats: 12/50 projects, 22 1/2 yards.