Kid’s Tool Belt

My little guy is 4 1/2 years old, and LOVES tools. Daddy’s tools are way cool, but he knows better …now! He does have loads of toy tools, and a real toolbox that Dad gave him, but no tool belt. He’d often come into my sewing room when I’m there (and when I’m not!) to see if he can use anything (yep, found the pins and took one down to the playroom for some reason). One day he came in and wanted a tool belt, right away, and picked up a selvedge strip of fleece I had on the table, and asked me to tie it round his waist. Tucked the tools in, but of course they just fell out after a while.

I decided I should make one for Christmas, and spent an evening looking around the web. There are a couple of cute tool belts, one tutorial which was great. But I wanted something a little more like the adult style. Google images are great for getting ideas, and I found hundreds of photos of tool belts, all kinds. Here is the one I made:

And here it is on my little guy, boy was he THRILLED when he unwrapped it on Christmas morning! It was folded up pretty small, but he knew what it was straight away. Wore it ALL day! (Those pyjamas were also a Christmas present I made using my favourite pattern, KS 3234.)

     

I started out the design with a paper mock-up using graph paper, then measured the pieces and added seam allowance. A few minor adjustments were made to the design as I went along, but overall it was pretty straightforward and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. The green fabric is a sturdy cotton/poly twill, not too heavy, and the yellow fabric is a cotton flannel.

I was wondering about putting this together as a pattern, if there’s anyone else who would want to make this? I’d love to hear from you!

Pants: to do or not to do?

That is the question! Steph C over at 3 hours past is starting a pants block project and will be making this available as a service; I love that! Since I made my jeans last year I’ve only been able to wear them in the summer as they’re a bit too short (I forgot to add to the back calf the amount I took out from the back thigh for curved legs). And the front crotch still didn’t look right after a ton of tweaking (you should see the muslins I made, so many alternate stitching lines!)

 

One day soon I’ll make another pair of jeans, and hopefully make a TNT pattern for pants and jeans. Last year I started thinking about getting a core wardrobe made, and pants, both jeans and casual/dressy, are on the list.

Check out Steph’s post about the pants block here. From all the comments she got, there are a lot of us who’d love to do this.