Paul and I are developing our own family traditions. Our favourite summer festival — Beers at the Basin — is worthy of new outfits.

In the summer of 2017 I made Paul the outfit above and myself a Celestial Dress. Originally he wanted a romper but I refused. A two-piece-setacular is way more practical and versatile. He’s worn both the top and the shorts together and separately on a number of occasions.

For Paul’s latest look I decided on Mc Calls 7206. We had been wanting to try a different pattern to Mc Calls 6044 so when we saw Norris’s version we thought that this fabric with the pattern would be perfect. Norris has made several versions but we loved this version the most as he had joined the pieces together to make a single front.  This removed the styling of the bowler shirt. I made a toile of this shirt from an old sheet. I sewed all the panels together to check the fit. The separate panels add shaping to the garment. After checking fit I then traced off the front to make a new pattern piece. The single front works well in a fabric like this where you don’t want to break up the print.

The fabric is a Cotton and Steel sneaker print cotton. It’s perfect for Paul as he loves collecting and wearing sneakers. The lovely Maryanne from Made on Marion special ordered this fabric for me. I made a bum-bag from a free pattern to keep Paul’s essentials in it. It went with the carefree vibe we were aiming for.

Paul liked the shirt but didn’t like the stitch-lines created by sewing down the front facings. He also thought the buttons should have been closer to the centre of the front of the shirt. Both things are easy to adjust next time.

We have quite a few fabrics for short sleeve shirts so I’ll make a bunch once we’ve nailed the fit. We’re planning to use Mc Calls 6044.

The shorts for this look were made using a vintage pattern: Butterick 4664. We chose this pattern as I was finding it hard to find men’s elasticated waist shorts and had purchased this pattern from an Opportunity Shop. I have previously made Paul Hudson pant shorts. We’ve found that the pockets in the Hudson pants aren’t good for holding things as the objects tend to fall out. This is the case for both knit and woven fabrics.

This new pattern had some good elements and some bad elements. The good is that the pockets are designed so they safely hold items. The bad is that the overall fit was incredibly baggy and unflattering. In true Emma fashion I made a muslin from nice heavyweight linen (a good fabric) I hate wasting fabric and I hoped that the pattern would be perfect. I needed to remove 1.5 inches from the front and the back rise. On this style of pants it looked like a baggy crotch and not in a cool modern way. I also needed to adjust both the inner and outer seam of the pants as the width was very wide. Thankfully I was able to make Paul a pair of shorts that fit better in the leftovers from his first disastrous pair.

Overall I would not recommend this pattern unless you are looking for a baggy style or are willing to take time to adjust the fit. Paul prefers modern fits. After taking time to make a his linen pair which were fitted correctly I cut into the Cotton and Steel fabric.

The resulting outfit looked amazing and fitted in perfectly with the beer festival vibes. A few other people were wearing similar looks which was fun. A couple of people asked Paul why he was wearing pyjamas. I wasn’t expecting this and found it hard to think of a quick response.

We had fun in our outfits! It’s a fun tradition to make new outfits for holidays or festivals.