Ribbons for boys ... and ribbons for me!

I don't sew very much for my boys, and even when I do, it is rarely clothing, especially for the older boys. So I have moved right outside my comfort zone for this post.



My 12 year old needed shorts, despite the serious lack of summer! I had some navy linen and cream cotton in my stash, that would make perfect shorts. I used a combination of two patterns from Ottobre (Winter 6/2009#27 & Spring 1/2011#39) to get the look I wanted, and checked with my son on the details he wanted!

The shorts were needed for casual wear - so we got a bit creative!

This is what we came up with - a navy linen pair of shorts with a turquoise striped ribbon, and also a cream cotton pair with a brown and orange grosgrain ribbon.

Sewing ribbon to the sides of the shorts, served two purposes for me. The shorts have a more casual look, and I was able to hide the raw edges of the side seams. By sewing the seams on the outside (putting the wrong sides of the fabric together and sewing the seam), I was able to sew the ribbon over the seam, also on the outside and this covered the raw seam edges.

This is what the inside looks like. I used Liberty bias binding - made by me - for the centre seam. The hems are finished with more ribbon to give them a clean finish and a little more weight

A lot of what I sew involves mixing colours and adding trims and ribbons, but for some reason it's the first time I thought of using ribbons on boys clothes. I ordered some ribbon from janemeans recently and many are perfect for boys clothes, especially the striped ribbons.

..... and ribbons for me....!

I'm about to have A LOT more fun using ribbons!

Jane Means ribbons in the UK were looking for bloggers to style their ribbons and post about it. Though their focus is gift-wrapping, many of the ribbons available are perfect for embellishing clothes. I was so incredibly pleased to get picked as one of a small group of bloggers to post about using Janemeans ribbon. It's such a motivating and challenging opportunity, all at the same time! I'm really looking forward to getting started.






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