Alastair’s Christmas suit is finished and ready to wear. The pants pattern is from the book Sewing for Jack and Jill, by Martha Pullen. It begins with the basic button-on pants pattern and simply adds a template for the V front. It would be easy enough to draft if the book were not available.
This pattern has become a favorite of mine. The V-front pants seem more elegant and suitable for special occasions. The V also creates an ideal frame for embroidery on the shirt.
MP pants
The black velveteen pants are lined with black Imperial broadcloth. The abalone buttons were found at Farmhouse Fabrics and they are just lovely.  I wanted to use the same buttons on the shirt and pants, but black would not show up on the pants and white or ivory would not show up on the back of the shirt. The pearly grey abalone buttons offer contrast to both fabrics and shimmer in the light. They are perfect.
The only glitch I encountered in making the pants was with the buttons. I would strongly advise anyone making the V-front pants to use shank buttons which look uniform regardless on the direction of the stitching that holds the shank in place.
I used two hole abalone buttons and love the look of them. But because the strap comes into the buttonhole at an angle, the buttons must be rotated to that same angle or the stitching will be diagonal.   The other buttons are sewn in a horizontal direction.
GingerSnaps shirt pattern
When rotated properly, the buttons look like a fleet of UFO’s in perfect formation. I sewed each of the strap buttons on at least 4 times before I learned to simply insert a pin into the strap at the correct angle. This offered a much greater likelihood of success. I was tickled pink to be done sewing those buttons on. Shank buttonwith that.
As mentioned in a previous post, the shirt pattern is Ginger Snaps’ Hudson’s Sunday Suit. www.gingersnapsdesigns.com  I used this pattern for both Alastair and Robert’s shirt. It just falls together, it is so easy. This has become another favorite pattern.
The embroidery design is from Nutcracker Motifs by A Bit of Stitch . I sent a picture of the finished outfit to my Aunt Rheeta. She made the sweetest comment saying, “I can just see him in it. As is, it’s beautiful but when he is in it, it won’t be noticed at all.”
That’s always the goal of classic children’s clothing. The attention should be on the child, not the garment.  It is  just like a picture frame for a prize winning photo.
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