[TOUR] Boys in Summer

Summer. Driving with the windows down. Spending days at the beach. The sand between your toes. Riding waves. Tan skin. Sprinklers. Ice cream and popsicles dripping. Water slides. Slip and slides. BBQ’s that last all day. Firepits and s’mores. Kayaks and floats on rivers. Drive in movies. Chasing bubbles. Picnics in the grass. The smell of chlorine. S’mores and cold drinks.

These are all of the things I think of when I think of summer. And this year, I’m making our bathing suits! They get to be exactly what we want and like and work for us. With the Boys in Summer tour, I was able to focus only on my son because let’s face it he doesn’t get as much sewing. This gave the perfect excuse to order something he loved and make something I know he’ll truly wear (especially since he wouldn’t take it off after pictures!)

For my son, the best bathing suit means no net lining (I’ve cut so many of out of RTW suits) and snug enough not to get pulled down at the water park. So, we sat and looked at some swim options and he decided on the laser cats from Zenith & Quasar and the Jalie Boardshorts. I paired some of their black and red solids for the color blocking and picked up some velcro, eyelets and flat black cording. The shorts weren’t hard, but I didn’t realize that there was a working fly so it was unexpected and more time consuming than I planned. Overall, it came together really nicely. I decided at the last second to make him a shirt from the scraps, too. Sometimes he likes to wear a shirt for waterpark slides or when we go kayaking to help with the sun. I used the Made for Mermaids’ Dylan tee since it has some built in color blocking, sized down to make it snug and added bands to the sleeves and hem for extra length – plus more laser cats is always the right way to go!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the inspiration on our tour just for the boys! I can’t wait for some more ideas and patterns that I’ve missed. It’s hard to find things for boys sometimes, so keep an eye out for all of the new Sewing Blue Blog Tours hosted by Made for Little Gents!

See you next time, until then – happy sewing!

Links/Patterns

Jalie Boardshorts

Zenith & Quasar Swim

M4M Dylan Tee

Looking for more summer boy inspiration? Follow along on the Boys in Summer Blog Tour hosted by Made by Little Gents by clicking through the links below.

Fri. May 4
Made for Little Gents (Intro to Boys in Summer Blog Tour)
Mon. May 7
Elli & Nels in Stitches
Tues. May 8
Our Play Palace | Made by Laura! | Beri Bee Designs
Wed. May 9
Made for Little Gents | Momma Newey’s Makes
Thurs. May 10
Phat Quarters | Dreams & Stitches
Fri. May 11
Stylin’ Stacy | Tenille’s Thread
Mon. May 14
Paisley Roots | Fabulous Home Sewn
Tues. May 15
Seams Like Style | Kathy’s Kwilts and More
Wed. May 16
Sewing with D | Auschick Sews | Seams Sew Lo
Thurs. May 17
My Sewing Roots | Sewing à la Carte | Middle River Studio
Fri. May 18
Lunatiek | Needles to Say | Manning The Machine