Faux Tie & Linen Shorts

When we started discussing wedding attire, O was adamant than he wanted to wear a long-sleeved button-down with a tie. Since it was going to be an outside wedding on a hot and humid day, I tried to persuade him to wear a polo or a short-sleeved shirt, but he apparently has strong opinions about appropriate clothing for nuptials. 

Initially he wanted a tie from the Star Wars fabric, but there wasn't enough left and he wasn't going for the bow tie idea. We then went fabric shopping together, but nothing caught his eye (there wasn't any more of that comic print at Joann's), so he decided on the scale-esque print he'd chosen for his teacher's gift. He ended up coordinating with the wedding party too! The boy has good taste.

I used this pattern, but changed it so that there was no hand sewing involved. Woo-hoo! (I did take pictures of the process, so if anyone would be interested in a tutorial, let me know.)

Next time I would also have a tube of fabric covering the elastic for a few inches on either side of the "knot." Once he had it on, the elastic showed. Not a huge deal for a seven-year-old, but I'd prefer it to look more like a real tie. He didn't have the top button done up, though, which may have affected the fit, or I may have cut the elastic a bit too long.

I had free reign over the pants decision and decided to make longer shorts out of some linen blend that I had in my stash from the Jedi costume.  Love stash-busting!

Since I already had the Hot Scott pattern traced, I used it again, but with the recommended 5/8" seam allowance.  That helped the fit of the 5T pattern for my 7X boy.  Much better, though still generous.  To make the shorts a bit dressier, I left off the cargo pockets and replaced the back pockets with the flaps from the Linus Shorts in Ottobre 3/08. Then I agonized over the buttons, which was pointless, since his shirt was untucked the whole time.

Post-wedding wrinkles! 

"What, this old thing?"

He received many, many compliments, which he seemed to enjoy immensely.  He did, however, turn down all dance requests from the ladies.  Except Mom.