Happy 7th Birthday, Landen!

Nothing sewing related today, just a quick post to tell my little guy happy birthday!

 Happy Birthday, Landen Jerry!  In honor of your 7th birthday, here are 7 reasons why I love you (although it would take a gajillion and one birthdays to list even half!). 1) you really care about the environment and all the creatures in it, even the icky bugs. 2) you are so sweet with little kids, I love your big heart. 3) you love to read and learn. 4) you care about my feelings, when I'm sad, you're sad and you try your darndest to cheer me up. 5) you crack me up!  You're hilarious and you know how to make people laugh. 6) you make YouTube videos that we never put on YouTube. 7) you love my cooking, even when it's just spam with eggs and rice, you're always amazed at how good it tastes. Hope this is the best birthday yet, little heart. I love you! 

The Maxwell Top by Shwin Designs

School is in full swing in our small corner of the world, so I've been more focused on sewing new school clothes for my little man.  Last week I made him a coordinating outfit!  Something I usually do for Jaidyn.  I chose to sew a Maxwell Top by Shwin Designs and some Blank Slate Patterns Clean Slate Pants/Shorts (my go-to for Landen's pants or shorts) in the shorts version in coordinating fabrics.

Couldn't get a decent smile from him!

This turned out so dang cute!  I was worried because he's about to be 7 (in 5 days, yikes!!) and you have to be careful with being too matchy-matchy with older boys.  But the funkiness of the Maxwell Top makes this all work.

The top fits a little wide on my skinny boy, but that's okay.  His chest measured a size 4 and I still made a 6 because I second guessed myself.  Next time I'll make it smaller in width and keep the size 6 length.  If you're making this, follow the measurements provided!

I love the aqua blue against the black!  I even used this aqua blue thread to top-stitch.  I think it added some extra oomph.

The Kona Cotton I used attracts lint like crazy!!

The instructions were super easy to follow.  They have a ton of pictures and there's even a YouTube video to help you attach the collar if you need help, although I found the instructions written well enough that I didn't need the video.  Landen loves his new outfit and we've already gotten tons of compliments.  

And the shorts?  I can't rave enough about the shorts.  I've made about a gazillion pairs of these already and I've had the pattern for about 2 months now.  They aren't baggy, I LOVE that they are slim fit without being skinny jeans.  Melissa describes how to install a zipper so well that I've heard a ton of bloggers (including myself) claim that these are the pants that taught them zipper installation.  You can make these with or without the zipper, with or without the front pockets, with or without the back welt pockets, as pants, shorts, or capris, making this just about the most versatile pattern I own.  And they look great on girls and boys, so even when my son outgrows the sizes (fingers crossed that bigger sizes are coming soon!  Maybe?  Hopefully?) Jaidyn will still get a ton of use out of this pattern. 

I'd love to see your version of the Maxwell Top and/or Clean Slate Pants!  Link your blog or page in the comments :)