Pattern Anthology: Hoodie and Blazer Style Post

I'm another stop on the tour for Pattern Anthology's winter collection for a style post!

Only a few days to buy the whole 8 pattern collection
or just the boy patterns, or girl.

check out the other posts from the tour!

I sewed up the Johnnie B Good Hoodie from Shauna at Shwin and Shwin

and the Berkshire Blazer from Melissa at Blank Slate Patterns.

On to some boy's style!
I think the best part of sewing clothing is the chance it gives my kids to design elements for themselves.
For the hoodie, RJ picked out the stripes from my flannel stash.
(I have to admit there was a "crap! I'll have to pattern match all the stripes" moment)
I suggested yellow or orange buttons and he chose orange.
To put the look together, he has orange corduroy pants from HandM along with the rubber high-tops.

I actually finished the hoodie last week and he wore it with an orange baseball cap to school.
He was going wild with matchy-matchy orange I guess.
I think it would be fun to layer a simple t-shirt under, leaving it unbuttoned 90s-flannel-jacket style.
Or unbuttoning the placket and rolling the sleeves would be a way to switch it up.

Next was the Berkshire Blazer.
I used a thin black denim.
The black makes it easy to dress up for more formal occasions, but then the denim texture makes it work with more casual looks.
 

I happen to LOVE blazers whether for myself, my son, or my girls. 

For kids they can seem uptight for private school boys.

I am a big fan of preppy fashion and if I didn't think my son would get teased, I'd have him wear the shorts and blazer combo with knee high socks.  

But it's not 1910.

So if you're wanting to add a blazer to the mix for your boy, it's pretty versatile.

This look uses  it as a light jacket over the hoodie with casual pants and shoes. 

Rolling up the sleeves also helps relax the look.

But there are some "man rules" to wear blazers and suits I have to follow.

It's a big fashion faux pas to button the last button on vests, blazers, suits, etc.

Don't believe me?  You can google it or look at any professional menswear campaign.

You'll never see a male model with all the buttons done up.

So whatever your style, formal or casual, start teaching your boys now to leave the last button undone. 

(I'm still working on my husband.)

I love elbow patches, like the oxford gent shirt from 2 years ago.

This blazer got charcoal suiting patches (scraps from the suit I made RJ).

We took photos in my mother in law's "grease woods"...ANT HILL!!

To add more to the details of sewing each look, I plan to share more "pattern review" posts of each item later this week with more photos.