Match with Me: Mother-Son Sewing Series with Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

All this week Stacey of Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy is hosting a sewing series about Mother-Son sewing - and I'm so excited to be joining in on the fun with some pretty awesome sewing mothers-of-boys!  We didn't go for matching, but more coordinating.  We each got a new sweater and a new infinity scarf and we're ready for fall.

When I received Stacey's email and invitation to join, I went through a variety of emotions.  First: I felt so flattered!  I made sure to say "YES" right away before... Second: I felt nervous and overwhelmed and what-did-I-get-myself-into, so... Third: I got ambitious and picked out several new-to-me patterns to purchase and put yards and yards of lovely fabric in my cart.

Then reality took hold.  Both my kids have October birthdays, plus birthday parties, plus Halloween.  It all adds up pretty quickly and I didn't think my kids would look favorably on a blog post in place of birthday presents this year, so I needed a new game plan - it was time to get thrifty.  I headed to Goodwill and, after quite a bit of digging, found two gray sweaters and a couple of coordinating blouses in seasonal colors and I think my total bill was about $15.  That I knew I could swing.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any good before pictures.  I tried, but they turned out terrible and aren't very helpful, so please engage your imaginations.  We'll start with the kid.  I grabbed a men's xs v-neck cardigan with the intention of taking it apart, cutting it down, and reassembling it to be basically the same sweater but smaller, but when I was putting everything in the wash and reviewing the 100% wool care label I decided, on a whim, to try shrinking it down first.  It worked great!  The arm and body width shrunk to the perfect size so I just turned the bottom up a couple times and used my twin needle to hem, and removed the sleeves at the shoulder, shortened them a few inches from the top, and reattached them.

My sweater was a XL men's sweater in cotton.  I liked the sleeve and overall length but needed to take it in A LOT, which I did on the sides and the sleeves.  I also prefer a scoop neck instead of the existing crew neck so I cut off the original neck band and used some knit scraps and my twin needle to bind the new neckline.

My original idea was to use some big flannel shirts to make some cozy fall infinity scarves that incorporated the buttons for some extra detail, but there was a surprising lack of flannel at the thrift store so I expanded my search.  I found my vintage floral blouse first and fell in love with the orange-black-gray thing going on.  My son's scarf was a woman's plus-sized blouse, orange with black stitching.  They're both lined in basic black knit from my stash.

Thanks to Stacey for inviting me to join in on this fun series - it was such a wonderful idea and has filled my head with more ideas for clothes for my boy, as well as myself!