Sailor Shorts and a giveaway!

I’m so flattered and excited that Amy of Peek-A-Boo Patterns invited me to participate in her summer tour! First of all I just want to say what an incredibly impressive product line Peek-A-Boo offers.  If you have a child to sew for, I promise you can find something for them in her shop.   And I swear every time I go back to the shop there are more patterns added to the line-up.  Lucky for you, at the end of this post I’ll share with you how you can win three Peek-A-Boo patterns of your choice!  And if you’re following along with the tour, every stop is having a contest for the same.  And! each day the featured pattern of that day is marked down to only $5! 

For my part, I picked the Sailor Shorts.  I have always loved this style, and figuring out how to make some sailor bottoms has been on my To Do list for years.  When the opportunity to follow someone else’s pattern and instructions presented itself, I jumped at the chance!  I made these shorts exactly to pattern.  There were a few things that I considered skipping because I didn’t want the shorts to be too busy, but I’m so glad I didn’t omit anything.  The binding, the buttons, the folded cuffs.  Seriously in love with every bit of these shorts.I used a vintage cotton toile Christie gave me a while ago, some chambray I had laying around, and basic white bias binding.  The buttons are circa 1970 from a box of notions my mom gave me.  The Sailor Shorts are such a classic look, I wanted to go vintage with fabric and buttons, and I love (LOVE!) how things turned out. 

Now, can we talk about fit?  The pattern pieces and instructions are PDFs that get emailed immediately upon purchasing, and range in size from 3 months to a child’s 8.  Ivy wears 6-12 months currently so I used the 12 month sized pieces.  Making bottoms for a cloth-diapered baby can be troublesome.  My baby’s got some back.  But the 12 month fit perfectly over her padded tush.

So following the pattern straight forward, the Sailor Shorts are perfect. 
Super exciting!But when I buy patterns, I look for versatility.  I want to get as much mileage out of my purchase as possible.  Beyond the impressive size range options, I wanted to see what else the Sailor Shorts pattern could be used to make.  With some super simple alterations, I used the 4T pieces to make Sailor pants for my (as of this week) four-year old son.  I just increased the length of the legs and used the rest of the pattern pieces as normal.  I did have some fun tweaking the details to be more masculine, too.  No binding, the pockets and front waistband are turned and topstitched.  The hems are finished normally with no rolled cuffs.  I also just used two buttons to give the front a more simple look, with contrast stitching for interest.   And yeah, I love the pants.And I think this guy does, too.  

Before you run off to buy the Sailor Shorts at their $5 daily deal price, how’s about a little contest?  One winner will be randomly selected to win three Peek-A-Boo patterns of their choice!  Two ways to enter:  leave a comment telling me which Peek A Boo pattern is your favorite and/or like Peek A Boo Patterns on Facebook.  Use the widget below to record your entries.    Winner will be announced Friday, July 27th. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

 

And don’t forget, if you want the Sailor Shorts pattern (and we both know you do), it’s marked down to $5 today only!  Also be sure to check out the other spotlighted patterns on the tour.  Each link below not only shows you some adorable kids’ clothing you can make, but takes you to some incredible blogs more than worth checking out.