Kid Pants and Fiberglass Lady

Finally our bath tub is fixed! The "Fiberglass Lady" came to our house last Friday to work her magic. Luke was pretty excited about it and put on his Spiderman costume to welcome her. I had been making plans to make the boys some pajama pants. I know these two things seem to have nothing to do with each other! Anyhoo:

Let me slow down and tell you that 2 weeks ago a hole was punched through the corner of the boys bathtub. How did that happen? Phil went in to start the bath and saw a thin black line in the corner of the tub. So (I don't know why boys do this) but he pushed on the small line and poked his thumb all the way through the fiberglass! He calls for me and I come and check the damage and yes there was a half dollar size hole in our 11 year old fiberglass tub!

We talk about patching and then go to Lowe's to look at new tubs. It turns out a new tub does not seem that expensive but when you add up the installation fees and consider that a wall would have to be removed to get a new tub in our tiny bathroom it gets into the ballpark of $3,000-$4,000! What???

The salesman at Lowe's suggests calling a local fiberglass company and getting the hole professionally patched for a few hundred dollars. Now that's more like it. Phil calls around and finally finds Beverly's Fiberglass. She says she can fix the hole for $95.00! Nice! So we set up a time for her to come out.

She shows up Friday morning. Pats Luke on the head and tells him that she loves his costume and brings in her back of tricks. It looks like a giant bowling bag from the 60's. I wonder how in the world that bag is going to fix the tub? Things start coming out of the bag like a funny hairdryer looking thing and an intense smell that gets stronger by the minute. I take the boys outside for some fresh air. The smell is starting to get to me. The next thing I know, I hear water running in the tub! Something we have not done for 2 weeks. Then she packs up her bag and brings me her invoice for $95.00 and tells me the spot she fixed is good to go. We can run the water and start taking baths/showers immediately and the patch is guaranteed for like EVER! I profess love to her and say we will definitely be calling her again if we have more holes. She says "not for that spot you won't." Well alrighty. She is a wonder. A woman who fixes fiberglass and is hugely confident in her trade. I like her. A lot. She has saved us thousands of dollars.

You could never tell by looking that there was a hole in this tub!

After the fiberglass lady leaves I am still feeling ill from the intense smell. So I open a bunch of windows, turn on some fans and load the boys in the Rendezvous. I figure we take a trip to JoAnn Fabrics and get some elastic and blue thread for the pajama pants project. I tell Luke that if he is good at the store he can have a hot dog from Rally's afterward. We never do stuff like that but there is a Rally's right there and the hot dogs are a $1.00. And it works! Both boys are great! I might be trying this more often!

I used this pattern and tutorial that I found online at this website: www.dana-made-it.com

My parents gave me this nightgown last Christmas. I asked for it specifically from LL Bean. I had been eying it for years but I always seem to be pregnantish around the holidays and I finally was a reasonable size last year. But I still ordered the wrong size and it fit funny at the neck. I loved it but never wore it. It was hardly worn and I wanted to re-purpose it into pajamas for the boys. I laid out the nightgown on the table and realized that I was only going to get one pair of pants out of this one nightgown. So I decided to make them for Luke because I already told him I was and showed him the fabric. He was excited and already in bed. Plus, if they hold up well they can be handed down to growing family members!

I traced the pattern with chalk and cut it out. I estimated because the online pattern is for 2-3t so I traced the pattern a little larger.

Pants are such an easy and rewarding project if you are new to sewing! I followed the tutorial instructions and found that the order of steps made more sense than the pattern that I used to make. Yes, I used to make pajama pants in high school. I even rekindled my skills and made Phil a fleece pair for Christmas when we first met and stitched a Merry Christmas message in the waist! I am pretty sure that MUST have won his heart because later that night he asked if I was his girlfriend? It took me really off guard and I felt flustered. I had not been a girlfriend for a while. I told him that I had to think about it! What? Who does that? Yep. Me. I think that all worked out nicely in the end though?

My skills were a little rusty and this first pair took a little longer than I anticipated. It is hard to be a perfectionist! So no embroidery here but I did re-purpose the tag especially for Luke. He needs a point of reference for dressing himself. "Tag goes in the back." I live by that rule too.

I followed the tutorial suggestion and hemmed the pants with a double line of stitching. I REALLY love the way they look more professional that way.

Since Luke was sleeping I had to wait the whole night to try them on the boy.

Show us your muscles.

Strike a pose.

Be more serious.

Ever since we had some family photos taken last week Luke has been really into pose striking.

I wanted Micah to have a matching pair but there is not enough fabric. Luke picked this flannel out for Micah. I picked it up at JoAnns a few years back on Black Friday for a $1.00 a yard. I waited in line at the cutting counter FOREVER but scored some fun flannels that I still use!

I made both pairs a little big keeping in mind that they will probably grow between now and winter. I love making stuff for my boys!

Yea dude, you're cool.

Look at how long!

You know these boys are growing though! Before I know it these pants will be too short!

I think that there are enough scraps of the blue flannel to make a small newborn pair of pants for the new baby and maybe some trim for Micah to have a coordinating pair? We will see!