Project Run & Play: The Upcycled Beach Boy

Challenge #5 at Project Run & Play is The Men’s Dress Shirt Challenge. I adore upcycling things, so I was really excited about this week. So excited that I visited multiple local thrift stores to dig through the dress shirts on several occasions. (I actually purchased a total of eight dress shirts with at least six different ideas in mind. Thanks to thrift store prices, though, I spent less than $30 for all eight!)In the end, I settled on the two 100% cotton shirts above.  I’ve been rotating between sewing for Jamie, Charlie and Katie, and this week was Jamie’s week.  With a size 6 to sew, I needed plenty of fabric.  These are both X-large shirts.  The seersucker shirt is an X-large tall!  I had originally planned to do something a little more exciting with the Hawaiian shirt.  At least more exciting than turning a big Hawaiian shirt into a little Hawaiian shirt.  My plan was to use my camp shirt pattern, but instead of the collar, I was going to sew in a hood.  I tried the hood.  Really.  It’s still thrown on the floor of my sewing room right behind me.  After ripping it off and sewing it back on twice, I still wasn’t entirely happy with it.  I reached a point where I took a look at the partially finished shirt with the hood attached and wondered to myself if I was just sewing in the hood to make the shirt look different for this blog post, never to be worn again.  My practical side won out, and Jamie has a new outfit that is cute, well-made and wearable, even if it is a little un-imaginative! This outfit was made for the beach, and we happen to live less than a 10-minute drive from the beach, AND we were blessed with beautiful beach weather today.  (Have I mentioned how much I love being back in Florida?)Doesn’t this make you want to come dig your toes in the sand?Oh, yes, the outfit!  For the top, I started with my Everyday Camp Shirt pattern, the same one that I used for Jamie’s bowling shirt in Week 2 of PR&P.  This time, I added angled yokes to the front of the shirt and the bias-cut pocket.  (Love the bias-cut pocket!)  I also used metal snaps because Jamie prefers them to buttons which are harder for him to do on his own. The original men’s shirt had side seam vents and a drop tail that I thought were perfect for the casual beach look, so I recreated them. I was able to cut the shirt out in such a way that I could re-use the original hems on both the body and the sleeves, but I wasn’t quite able to line up the stripes on the side.  Eh.  I think the pattern is busy enough that it’s not really noticeable.The shorts are Mud Puddle Splashers!  (I finally got the pants update for the MPS pattern to my testers last night, and I’m hoping to have the finished pattern ready for sale in the next couple of weeks.  You guys have been so patient with me during our move and settling in period!  New patterns are coming. I promise!)  I love the Mud Puddle Splashers for simple, easy, everyday little boy pants.  These have the side-seam pockets, the faux fly and the back pockets.  (I failed to get any good pictures of the details on the shorts.  I was a little too busy just enjoying watching my little ones enjoy the beach  . . .  in February!) I heard on the radio today that there’s a blizzard blowing in up north, so I’ll leave you with a few more pictures of Jamie’s fun at the beach on this warm morning.   (You may feel free to remind me of this post in the middle of July when you’re enjoying comfortable evenings with your windows open, and I’ve barricaded myself in my air-conditioned house because of the sweltering Florida summer heat.)