No Frilly Dresses

So, I had a little Sprout.  Why no pictures of all the baby clothes I made?  Well, I didn’t make any.  The Conductor and I decided not to find out the gender ahead of time.  But at about my sixth month, I began to have really strong feelings that it was a boy.  I couldn’t explain it, there was no science behind it, I just kind of knew. The Conductor confessed that he, too, thought it would be a boy.  

I secretly hoped that it might be a girl anyway.  I am a seamstress, after all.  Think of the things I could make!  Dresses, short sets, pinafores, smocks, and bloomers!  And matching hair things!  There could be appliqués and rick rack and eyelet and ribbons!  Plus all the Mommy-and-Me matching stuff – like aprons and church outfits – and matching winter coats!  Endless possibilities like this one from Smashed Peas and Carrots.  

Still, when the conductor peered around the operating curtain and announced, “It’s a boy!” I wasn’t surprised or disappointed.  After all, I suspected it was a boy for three months.  The Sprout is adorable and from day one my heart melted every time I looked at him.

And then I went to the fabric store for the first time since he came.  They had the new pattern books out.  Time to see what kind of baby things I could make for my little guy!

Friends, there is NOTHING fun to sew for boys!  There’s about 27,348 patterns of cute things for girls.  There's maybe two patterns for boys - one for a long sleeved shirt and pants and another for a short sleeved shirt with shorts.  Big whoop. 

I was bummed but it shouldn’t have surprised me.  Boys don’t care about clothes.  They don't need ruffles and rick-rack and matching outfits for their dollies.  Boys are basic when it comes to clothes and fashion.  It shouldn’t have surprised me that sewing options for boys would be just as basic (and boring!).  

That’s when it really sank in.  There would be no aprons.  No pinafores.  No dresses with matching bloomers.  Eyelet?  I think not-let.   A cute applique?  Not today.  

Reluctantly I picked out one of the two boy patterns in the book.  I walked around the store trying hard to convince myself that sewing on bug fabric and car fabric and superhero fabric will be way more fun than sewing on eyelet and flower fabric.  Trying hard no to think about the pile of pink fabric in my stash, I took it home, laid out the pattern for a hat on some very non-girly paw print fabric and finished the project.  I put it on the Sprout's little bean to try the sizing as I wondered how on earth a paw print hat could possibly compare to a frilly dress with zig-zag trim and a matching apron and then I got this:

OH MY GOSH is he cute or what?  This is McCalls' 6575 which features three boy hats and (pathetically three girl hats, too.  How sad is it that they could only come up with three boy hat patterns?) I put this on him for a ride to visit the gals at the office - they all thought it was adorable.  

Here's the side view.  Is that not the cutest?  I've never made many hats before.  This was super easy.  If I didn't have to stop every 2 minutes to tend to the Sprout, I could've made this in about 20 minutes, including cutting time.  

 And here's one more.  He looks like he's ready to go for a drive in his new paw-print, very boyish - yet very stylish - driving cap.  Maybe sewing for a little boy won't be so bad after all?  (See how I coordinated his outfit with a onesie that had a doggie on it?)