Growing boy

Tad has grown so much this year, he can comfortably wear my long sleeves and we are 1/2 size apart in shoes now. I bought some new boots and 1 pr is very girly, but the others are not and I expect to find him in them. This shirt is my first, successful, wool dye attempt. This is a dark navy and I didnt have any spotting or streaking. I made the dye lot in a large chicken stock pot and simmered/soaked this for a couple of hours, let it sit overnight and then reused the dye bath for a lighter blue. It came out so nicely! This is a cotton lined washable wool shirt. I use cream colored (because I bought a 50 yd bale of organic cotton knit to use, well forever! For lining, basic shirts, etc.) cotton t shirt inner, and then the wool outer. This makes a wonderful Ks winter shirt, he wears plain white t shirts and the wool can be used more than 1 day. He grew out of his orange wool, and he really does need 3 of these per winter so I made this one. I cut it out then dyed it to not waste, in case I messed up so didnt dye fabric, nor did I make up the shirt first. Again, I would dye just the fabric amt or the finished shirt now that I know how because I didnt cut out cuffs. I forgot, and we like shirts with cuffs for longer wear, and nice hems. He loves the shirt, and we bought slate, dark brown, and dark green dye for next years shirts since we can now dye. He did help.

Another clue that he is growing, his long johns fit me. I cant wear them length wise, but size wise they fit! Tad likes to wear long johns all winter, so he can wear his outer pants more than 1 day. I prefer this as well for laundry reasons, and he needed all new long johns this year. This is the last pr I made because I couldnt keep up with him having only 5 pr. He needed 6 because we hang dry our laundry, not an amazing picture just look how long! These are a cotton lycra, both kids love this for long johns. They have wool ones, and wool ones with cotton lining for zero and lower temps but these are everyday regular cold wear. The cotton lycra can be fitted and not wrinkle under pants, but because they are so stretchy they do not feel tight. The pants take about 15 min to make, and cost me around 2$. The shirt, cost more, but ll bean is the only place I can find comparable shirts and they are 4x what I spend to make him this shirt. I could sew cheaper, or maybe shop cheaper at sales or goodwill. But I wouldnt be able to dress them in the high quality wools and cottons that I love so instead I seek sales and use coupons and we dye to get extra colors. It would be pricey to buy wool in all colors, but greige (undyed wool) is cheaper than buying colors or the product already made.