$5 Friday—4th of July Board Shorts

I usually do 4th of July outfits for the kids….or in past years it has been a dress for Hannah and then finding something that matched for Aaron.  But, with two boys this 4th (yay!) I thought it might be fun to do another matchy-matchy type outfits.  (They’re only little for a few years….right?)

And this year, I kind of wanted to go understated.  I don’t know why really….I just did.  Probably, mostly so they would be outfits that they could all wear again without screaming “I am a 4th of July outfit”  (although I do love those kind too–and have done them in the past).  I guess I just wanted something a bit different.

So, here are the boys shorts.  I will be sure to show you Hannah’s on Tuesday.  I decided this year to go with seersucker.  Number 1, because it is light and cool and number 2….because I love it….and it also fits perfectly in the understated theme.  I actually bought this fabric in MARCH with a 40 percent off coupon (do you think I am overzealous at times? and then the whole birthday party last minute stuff….procrastinator at its best?  go figure)…..so it cost around $5 for one yard, which I made two pair of shorts out of and a few scraps for Hannie’s dress.

I made the boys some board shorts, so they are a bit longer length.  And things were going just dandy, until I asked a certain nine-year-old to try them on.  And he was not happy.  The darling blue and white shorts I just made were “girl shorts”.

So, I stewed and stewed until I came up with something just right to toughen them up a bit.  A shark eating a surfboard was just the ticket.  And  it worked….he agreed they were cool again.  Whew.  And our little baby bubba in the house got a baby shark added to his too.

I didn’t get a picture on the boys before it got dark (my stewing took awhile).  But they are cute on.  Really cute.

Here is what I did if you need to make some “tough guy board shorts” too.  I just cut out a shark outline with  some navy blue scrap fabric and sewed it on wonky.  Wonky sewing in my book means wiggling the fabric as you are sewing it—and viola—you will have wonky.  I like this look on kids clothes.  I also freehanded the surfboard….and sewed it on wonky too.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and a safe Fourth!  We will be with family; swimming, eating, and roasting a million marshmallows while watching fireworks.  What could be better than that?  Hope yours is just as great!

See you next week…

P.S. It is REALLY bugging me that the text on the title pic is aliased (or anti-aliased…I can never remember)…ARGHHH!  How did I miss that one?  Please ignore.