Yes, I know, KCW is over–very much over. But hey I went in cold and started too many things (as per always) so I needed another week to finish things. Plus, dear Lord! the cold! and the sickness! Will winter ever end?!

No, it won’t. At least not for 2 more long months, which is why I made these warm pants for my son. They look like wool, but are actually polyester, and they’re lined with flannel. I used the Jacob pattern by Zonen 09 and some lady’s very stylish slacks from the 70s to make these cozy dancing pants. She must have been a very tiny lady, because the waistband practically fit my 7 year old!

I had to reuse the waistband, because I barely had enough fabric to eek out the rest of the pants. It looks a little weird with the [fake] fly opening one way and the [fake] closure opening the other. But I’m 99% sure no one is going to notice.

I had a different top planned for this outfit, but then I found this striped sweater I had cut out already. I realize he looks a little crazy…

…but he loves it (the crazy and the shirt). The shirt is upcycled from a ladies sweater and made with the Flashback Tee pattern. Both the pants and the sweater came from this crazy thrift store called the Dig&Save. All the thrift store rejects go there. You have to dig around in giant bins to find anything and everything is priced by the pound.

It’s an odd place, but a treasure trove of fabric. You really have to dive in (almost literally) and trust your instincts. I was drawn to these polyester pants, but as I was sewing them I had a moment of fear: Is he going to be teased because his mom so obviously made his pants.

Do you worry about this? Cherie from You & Mie started a great conversation on instagram about kids dressing themselves–do you let them? do you edit the craziness? do you encourage it? do you feel pressure to dress them just right? I think the hashtag was #realkidsrealclothes if you want to join the conversation.

I obviously encourage the crazy, but maybe it’s time I pulled back. Grade school is tough. As a parent, it’s hard to know when to lead and when to let your kids figure it out on their own. They are little, but they’re big, but really they’re little. Agh! All of this from a pair of polyester pants.

Here it is day 4 of KCW and finally I have something for you. This outfit was actually finished on day 2, but I had to wait for the sun to come out to get some decent shots. And sheesh the sun sets early these days.

Enough small talk, let’s get to it!

THE PATTERN: Jacob Pants by Zonen 09. I’ve gushed about this pattern maker before, but I hadn’t sewn up one of Sharon’s patterns until now. I have to say these pants live up to [my] hype. The pattern has lots and lots of pictures, which is wonderful if you are a visual learner like me. There are also some lovely little details: the pin tucks, of course, and tiny butt darts :)

THE FABRIC: Stamped by Ellen Luckett Baker. I scored the last bit of this triangle print when sew mama sew was clearing out their fabric store. When I saw these bad boys, I knew I had to make some triangle pants of my own.

THE SEWING: The sewing went very smoothly. The directions, as I said, are very clear and very customizable. I went with a faux fly and because I couldn’t find buttonhole elastic, just regular sewn in elastic. I added piping starting at the pocket edge and continuing down the side. I totally stole this idea from someone, but can’t remember who.[edited to add: I stole it from sew bidoo] I didn’t have any cording, so I folded a bit of yellow fabric (from this old kcw project) in half and inserted it between the layers. It’s not the same width all the way down, but it’ll do. I’m actually kind of bummed the yellow matches so well–it sort of disappears into the print.

THE PATTERN: tried and true Flashback Tee by Rae.

THE FABRIC: My youngest only goes half days to school, so he gets stuck running all the errands with me. We end up at the fabric store quite a bit. He spotted this green jersey there one day and proceeded to carry the bolt around the whole store.

THE SEWING: The sewing went well. I made a few changes. First I drafted some shoulder patches (has the fashion world come up with a clever name for these yet?).  They were a bit more fidley than I imagined, but worked out well in the end. I love, love how they look. I also finished the neckline a bit differently: sewing the binding to the wrong side of the neckline and then folding it over and stitching it down.

It’s hard to see, but I also sewed a little star as the tag in the back. I’ll try to take some better pictures, because I’m quite in love with this bit too. Super successful project–he won’t even take it off!