Made for Mermaids :: Back to School Tour 2018

Jul 30, 2018

I had so much fun two years ago with M4M’s Back to School Tour, that when they asked if I wanted to play along again I jumped at the chance.  More excuses to sew for and photograph my sweet boy?  Yes please!

I’m so happy that Made for Mermaids is starting to give me a few more boy patterns to work with.  I like having as many options as possible in Louis’ arsenal of to-makes.  This time around, I dressed Louis in head-to-toe M4M — in a Dylan tee I upcycled from a men’s shirt I found in the discount rack, and some Lexi+Lou Loungers in this incredible Athletic Brushed Poly Spandex fabric from Bow Button Fabrics.

We are saying this is a “back to school” tour.  But let’s be honest, Louis is really on his own version of a “back to COOL” tour.  Am I right?

Get out of here with your bad self, Lou.

The thing with “back to school” clothes is that it’s really pretty boring for us.  There really isn’t a big shopping trip where we pick out new clothes for the year/season.  But that’s because Louis attends a private school and they have a uniform that they wear daily.  However, they do get a Freedom Friday once a month, and various days of being able to wear dress-down clothes.  Louis loves those days especially because it’s more of a day for him to express himself and his style.

So when we decided to sew for this tour, we went for something he’d wear during one of his Freedom Friday days.

[easy-image-collage id=16417]

One of my favorite ways to fabric shop is in the clearance racks at Target and the likes.  You can find some really great graphic tees for super cheap…much cheaper than getting a panel from somewhere.  I usually buy the largest size I can find…aiming mostly for men’s XL shirts or larger.  However, this one was a men’s small.  And you can see that because of it, the graphic ended up getting cut off in places.  No sweat whatsoever, I still love the shirt.  But it’s something to take into account when you’re fabric shopping in the clearance racks!  I even like to use the sleeve portion, hem included.  I just move my pattern piece to remove the hem allowance for that part.  Saves one extra step in sewing!

**I need to mention that I hacked the Dylan tee to not have that side panel that we all know and love.  I didn’t have a coordinate that I wanted with this top, so I kept it simple and overlapped the side pieces while cutting out my front and back panels, to omit that fun and funky side panel.  Otherwise I kept everything the same!

With little people, function beats form out any day.  While we are very much jeans and a tshirt people, Louis has been growing fond of what he calls comfy pants.  Joggers are completely different than sweatpants in my mind.  They have a much more stylish, everyday look to them, and I find them totally appropriate to wear in public settings.  Louis loves them because they’re comfortable, stretchy, and he can move and climb on the playground in them.

I love them because they take like half a minute to sew.

It’s quite possible that I took too many photos during our little off-site shoot.  We tend to only use our house as a background setting, but Bennett drove us up to this lookout in town and it was so fun with the colors surrounding my little guy.  Sorry, not sorry about the overload!

[easy-image-collage id=16419]


Pattern: Dylan Tee and Lexi+Lou Loungers by Made for Mermaids

Fabric: Athletic Brushed Poly from Bow Button Fabrics (Titanium Colorway HERE!)

Made for Mermaids is celebrating the Back to School season all week long on their blog, along with a #m4mback2school2018 sharing contest!  Play along with us!

Disclosure: As always, you’ll find some affiliate links scattered within my post, which means I receive a small amount of compensation if you end up purchasing something I’ve recommended.  Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  Purchasing from my links does not alter the pricing in any way for you, it simply helps feed my sewing, creating and blogging habits.  Thank you for your support!

3 Comments

  1. Shannon Harrington

    Cool outfit and I love how you used a mens t-shirt to upcycle into a shirt for your little man

    Reply
  2. Colleen Leonard

    I LOVE these pics!! So, so fun!

    Reply
  3. Jody Kappas

    I love everything about this!

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome to Wild+Wanderful!  I’m Katy.
Momma. Wife. West Virginian.
Designer. 
Dreamer. Coffee Consumer.
DIY-er. 
Craft Beer Enthusiast.
Purple Obsessor. Lover of Handmade.

MILDLY WILD. MOSTLY WANDERFUL.

LATEST FREEBIES

Free Wreath Scarf | Addi + Sentro Circular Knitting Machine Pattern!

AHHH! I'm super jazzed to tell you that I'm launching my first ever knitting machine pattern! SO FRICKEN EXCITED. I purchased a Sentro Knitting Machine back in January 2022 and since then my world has opened up in term of knitting.  I'm well aware it's not the...

Granny Square Cardigan Pattern + Printable Square Planner!

I am unbelievably excited to share with y'all this FREE crochet pattern! It's been in the works since July, if you can believe it. I was creating a capsule wardrobe for my Scotland/Ireland trip and whipped up the candy colored granny square cardigan of my dreams...and...

How to “Join As You Go” Granny Squares / Crochet Tutorial + Video

If you love crocheting granny squares as much as I do, you've come to the right place. Because I LOOOOOOVE me some granny squares. And basically anything that requires a granny stitch. It's delightful to crochet, it's practically mindless, and you get to make lots of...

Celebrate National Coffee Day with a FREE Caffeine-Infused Digital Cut File!

Today, I'm raising a mug to celebrate National Coffee Day, and I've got the perfect treat for you: a FREE digital cut file that proudly declares, "My blood type is caffeine positive." Because let's face it, if coffee runs in your veins as much as it does in mine,...

My Sudoku Travel Capsule Wardrobe + FREE Interactive Sudoku Capsule Planner!

We are about to embark upon an epic family trip to Scotland and Ireland. I could not be more excited. It's all I can talk about. It's all I can think about. I'm just so fricken pumped. We are being true travelers during our trip, where we are constantly on the move...

The Little Wanderer Skirt | A Free PDF Sewing Pattern from Wild+Wanderful!

I'm excited to share that I've been able to update another pattern for y'all! The Little Wanderer skirt is the youth version of my beloved Wanderer Skirt pattern (which is also free). It's an adorable high/low half circle skirt with two hem lengths and optional...

RECENT POSTS

Cordial Can Coolers / 2023 Holiday Freebies

We are cruising into Day 2 of the 2023 Holiday Freebies with Patterns for Pirates, y'all! Today's pattern has me in disbelief that I didn't think to do it earlier than this. Who doesn't love a can cooler? And what's better than a personalized one? Basically nothing! I...

Dino Nugget Plushies / 2023 Holiday Freebies

It's officially the kickoff today and I'm pumped to be able to finally share what I've secretly been working on for months now. I try super hard to get these freebies drafted up + into testing...

Fabric for Pirates :: November 2023 Reveal

Happy Fabric Reveal Day, friends! As you know, I'm a big fan of finally being able to share what I've made with the fabric we sent to our subscribers. So I don't even need to say it, right? I'm super pumped to share what we sent this month because it's such cool...

AFFILIATES