Words of Wisdom from Rachel of Nest full of eggs

When we sent out the call for guest posts to kick off our new venture, we realized that it was just at the time for back to school and we might get a couple of "Not a good time". Well since we value and appreciate what everyone has to say we really wanted everyone to have a chance to contribute if they wanted to. 

Rachel, from over at Nest full of Eggs, is very talented and has some amazing tween boy looks along with some great tips that I'm so glad she took the time to share, even in this crazy back-to-school time of year. Take it away, Rachel.

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vest + trousers

 The current tween in our household is my 10 year old son (just turned 10 over the summer). I don't do a lot of boy sewing and I don't do a lot of tween sewing, but when I have done tween boy sewing I've kept a few things in mind:

1) Taking my son's favorite things into consideration: favorite colors (yellow, red), favorite animal (octopus).

2) I've stuck more with the classics and dressier type items of clothing: basic pants, trousers, sailor styled pants, vest, blazer, long sleeved t-shirts.

3) Looking at men's fashion for inspiration. It was a men's patchwork blazer that inspired my son's patchwork blazer. What is found for sewing for men can be helpful for tween boy sewing, for example: 9 fabrics ideas for men's shirts can be just as helpful for choosing fabrics when sewing a tween boy's shirt.

4) Paying attention to details, like adding piping to sailor styled pants and the lapel of a blazer, adding exposed zippers on the front pant pockets.

vest + trousers

 The sewing patterns I have used for my tween son:
Oliver + S Sailboat Pants (pattern goes up to size 8)
Oliver + S Art Museum Vest + Trousers (up to size 12)
Melly Sews Clean Slate Pants (up to size 8)
Melly Sews Basic Blazer (up to size 8)
Made By Rae Flashback Skinny Tee for Big Kids (up to size 14)
(I might be at an advantage being able to still use some smaller sized patterns as my son is really skinny, so I am able to use a size 8 or smaller than add length)

patchwork blazer tutorial

 I highly recommend visiting this blog post: Sew You Had a Boy: Siestas and Sewing where Cindy shares her knowledge and experience about tween boy sewing patterns and fabric selections.

sailor style pants

 I recently purchased this classic shirt (with collar stand) sewing pattern (up to size 12) and have plans for sewing my tween son a shirt in octopus fabric. Let's hope for the best, I've never sewn a classic shirt before!

zipper teeth trimmed neckline long sleeve t-shirt tutorial

 Happy tween sewing!

yellow pants with exposed zippers on the front pockets

Thanks so much for inviting me.