Tag: jalie 2918

Sewing Swim – For my Son

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen little snippets of the backyard renovation my family has been working on for the past several months. We have gone from dirt, to artificial grass, a pool, yard rock, and once done we will also have a pergola/patio and deck by the pool. It has been a long and very labor intensive process, but we have gotten enough done to enjoy it now.

Of course the kids swimsuits from last year, have either become too small, fallen apart, or melted together, didn’t even know they would do that. With having this pool in and our current temps being in the triple digits already, they needed new suits.

Time to cross another first off my sewing list !!

But have you seen all the swimsuit options out there?? It is so overwhelming to me. So I asked the amazing group of sewists at The Fabric Fairy, to point me in the direction of their favorite pattern companies. That helped immensely and my kids had fewer choices to decide between.

My son’s suit was relatively simple since he wanted a t-shirt and pair of shorts. Nothing fancy. He really liked the Waterburst Black Flow Boardshort Fabric from The Fabric Fairy. The colors are so vibrant and the water droplets look so realistic, he immediately picked it for his shorts. Bonus points in my book, it has UPF 50+, which is so important with our almost constant sun. Something else I noticed right away with this boardshort fabric, was how nice it felt. It didn’t have a crunchy feel, like some other board short fabrics I have felt.

A really cool feature on the Fabric Fairy website, is the coordinating fabrics at the bottom of each listing, it makes it really simple to find matches, when you are trying to make outfits. And if nothing is listed, you can send an email or ask in the Facebook group for matching help.

The matching fabric my son picked for his shirt was the Cobalt Palm Rec. Again with the UPF 50+!! Check out this fabric description – Eco friendly, certified recycled, high chlorine resistance, and UV protection. Smooth, cool hand that does not snag. AMAZING !!

The 5 out of 4 Patterns, Kids Swim Trunks were recommended a few times and when I showed the listing photos to my son, he said they were perfect. The swim trunks have two lengths, long or short, plus optional pockets, drawstring, and liner. We did the long length and optional liner for his pair. It was a really quick sew and the fit was spot on.

We used our go to t-shirt pattern for the top, the Jalie 2918. I have made it in a variety of fabrics and it was great with the swim fabric. The fabric was a bit more slippery, so I just slowed down when sewing, to make sure all the layers stayed together.

He loves it!!!

My daughter loves her suit too, blog post about that coming at you later this week šŸ’•

Patterns:
5 Out Of 4 Patterns, Kids Swim Trunks (available in Men’s sizing too)
Jalie 2918 – pattern comes with boys and men sizing, all in one.

Fabrics, all from The Fabric Fairy:
Shirt – Cobalt Palm Rec 18 Recycled Nylon Spandex Swim Fabric
Shorts – Waterburst Black Flow Stretch Boardshort Fabric (Also available in white)
Liner for shorts – Light Peach Poly Spandex Swimsuit Lining

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my sewing šŸ’•

Dinosaurs & Brazilian Performance

My son loves dinosaurs and shorts in French Terry. So, when So Sew English came out with a new Dino print on French Terry, it was an immediate purchase.

The last few pairs of shorts I have made for him, have all been without pockets. He loves pockets, but I don’t love the surprises those pockets leave behind in my washing machine. He really, REALLY wanted pockets in this pair, and informed me that he was now 7 and had a better memory. Even though Daddy is way older than 7 and still forgets. šŸ¤£

He likes the fit of the Pattern Niche 11th Hour Gear Shorts and I love how quick of a sew it is. I always double check measurements before sewing and saw he had moved up a size, so I ended up needing to redo my pattern pieces. I’m glad I checked though, because he loves the shorts and we have a long summer ahead of us.

Since he heard his sister picking her shorts length, he wanted to as well, fortunately his desired length was really close to the pattern length so it was as simple as taking a smaller hem allowance. You can read about how I used this same pattern to make my daughter a pair of shorts a few weeks back, here.

Naturally our puppy, who is almost 6 months now, needed a matching scARF (a.k.a. super soft bandana). I had a two yard cut and was easily able to get both his shorts and the scARF out of it.

If you read my last few posts, you know I’ve been interested in trying new to me fabric bases, so I decided to try out the Brazilian Performance Rib from So Sew English for a matching top. The rib is listed as a horizontal rib, but upon arrival I noticed that it only had around 25% stretch horizontal and around 100% vertical, so I chose to use it as a vertical rib. Unfortunately my camera had a hard time photographing the rib, but the mint color is a perfect complement to the shorts.

On the right side of the fabric, there is a definite rib, and the wrong side is smooth. My son is a little sensitive when it comes to things being soft or having texture, so I wasn’t sure how he would like the rib as the neckband. After wearing, he said he doesn’t mind it, but it isn’t as soft as his Double Brushed Poly or other performance shirts, and that they are his favorites.

The fabric sewed up well, but I did notice that hemming was a bit odd on my machine, with all the ribbing. When compared to other performance fabrics I have used, it feels a little stiffer, again, because of the ribbing.

My husband wants a shirt in it to try too, I knew I should have gotten 2 yards instead of one.

I can’t get over how cute they look together šŸ˜šŸ˜.

I used our normal go to t-shirt pattern, the Jalie 2918.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you.Ā Thank you for supporting my sewing šŸ’•

But first, photos!

Ever since I started sewing, I would take pictures of my makes and log the details in a notebook. It is fun to look back and see what you have made and how you have improved over the years. It’s also crazy helpful having details written out when they request the “exact same thing” a year later. Since this is my norm, my family knows, I will request photos of whatever I make for them, before they can have them. Cruel I know šŸ˜‚.

I made the “mistake” of making my husband new shirts for him to wear under his work clothes, and he loved the fabric so much, he requested several others, in his favorite regular t-shirt pattern. For his work under shirts, I recreated his old store bought ones and saved a bunch of money. (You can see the full video tutorial here ). The work undershirts, are a much tighter fit, but for these new ones, he wanted a traditional, relaxed, t-shirt fit.

I pulled out our trusty t-shirt pattern, the Jalie 2918. Not only is this our most used mens t-shirt pattern, but it is also our most used t-shirt pattern for my son, yes, it has both mens and boys sizes included in one pattern! Naturally, my son wanted to have a few matching shirts with my husband, so they picked a few fabrics together. Not gonna lie, watching my guys fabric shopping together was amazing šŸ’•

This is such a quick sew (you can see a time-lapse video of me sewing up one of these here), and with the large size range and pattern options, it really makes it cheaper than purchasing store bought.

First up was this University Red dry-fit from The Fabric Fairy. This is the same fabric base I used for my husband’s black undershirts. I purchased 2 yards and was able to get both a shirt for my husband and son. My guys love how smooth it feels and the moisture wicking properties are a major selling feature for them, especially since they are always outside doing something active and we live in the hot desert.


They also chose the Royal colorway of the same fabric. There is a slight difference in the feel between the red and blue, but nothing significant and they didn’t even notice it.


My husband wanted a few more tops and picked out two other fabrics from my So Sew English stash. First up was this Sage performance. It feels a little slicker/stiffer than the Nike dry-fit, but again, it’s so minimal, he didn’t notice it.

And the second stash pick, was this Silver Yoga performance, with added HTV. I’ve only done HTV a few times and this one was a learning experience for me. Plus all the weeding! But seeing him wash, wear, and repeat, was totally worth it.

Because of my “Photo First” rule, they were not able to wear most of them for a few weeks. It was such torture, but they finally gave me some pictures when we went camping a few weeks ago. Then proceeded to wear the shirts the entire time šŸ˜‚


Since there are a couple other color ways of the Nike dry-fit in stock at the Fabric Fairy, they have requested a few more shirts. My daughter fell in love with the feel of the fabric too, so I used the pinkfire colorway for a new tank for her. Which you can read about here.

He has a list for me

A few months ago we ( meaning I), decided it was time to go through the kids drawers and closets to see what they had grown out of or had worn out. They were requesting new clothes so I told them they could clean things out and we could make a list of what they needed. Both kids returned with long lists. My daughter had hers all written out and even had fabric requests. My son, had pictures drawn. I’m talking long lists people.

I was surprised. I mean, I knew they had been growing quite a bit, but these lists seemed pretty extensive. So I had them show me their drawers and low and behold, they were pretty empty. This mystery was solved a short time later when I found the piles of clothing they hid, in order to request new clothes. It’s okay, you can laugh, I did. I also take it as pretty special when they were asking me to sew things to replace store bought things, since they like my things better.

After paring down the list to actual needs, it was time to get started, Ā a few months later. šŸ˜‚Ā The first up on my sons list was some shirts. He has a few favorite patterns from the past and asked if I could make new ones just like them, but bigger.

He went fabric shopping and picked out his fabrics. All these fabrics are double brushed poly and from So Sew English Fabrics.

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We used the Moto Maxx tee from Love Notions for this one. The pattern has several options and even includes a pants pattern. My son particularly loves the double sleeve look and that is what he picked for this one. He was really excited that the light blue SAM stripe matched the Navy/Aqua trucks print so well. I also did a short time lapse video sewing it up.

His next three picks are all from the same pattern. The Jalie 2918, mens and boys shirt. I love the fact that it has such a large size range. It has been made so many times for my son already, and I see many more as the years progress.

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For this long sleeve version, he picked some solid grey DBP from my stash and thisĀ deep navy MOTOMAX dbp.Ā With the crazy growth he has been having, I decided to make his sleeves a little longer, in the hopes that it would last into winter.

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Since it is still pretty warm here, he requested one of his new shirts to be a short sleeve version. This makes it so he can wear it now and later with layers. This one is completely in the deep charcoal/neon green dinos DBP.

If you read my post about our trip to So Sew English fabrics back in April, you saw the airplane dbp and the red/navy vertical stripe dbp my son was given by Amanda. He asked for a shirt from the airplanes and wanted the stripes to be long sleeves with it. It was too hot already, so we did a short sleeve shirt from the airplanes and hung on to the stripes until now. Ā We had enough left to make his long sleeve shirt, and hopefully enough to make his requested boxers next. The stripes are a vertical stripe, but since the stretch is so great in both directions, we flipped it to make the stripes horizontal.

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I thought that would cover most of his list, until he put on his jeans for these pictures. Whoops, I guess his list isn’t as short as I hoped. Thank goodness our weather is still good for shorts, it gives me some time to work on my daughters list first.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Letā€™s be honest, we all know it goes right back to adding to my fabric stash. All opinionsĀ on this blog are my own.