you+me=wyatt lee: How to: Little Man Suspenders

Like I said earlier this week-- Wyatt's first birthday is coming up.

And although I'm trying to keep the party itself small and not overly extravagant, I seem to always try to go overboard with Wyatt's outfits on special days.

But let's be honest. Little boys can't wear hair bows or taffeta. You can't put him in a necktie every time you go somewhere special.

And no, you can't make him wear a little tuxedo on his birthday. Believe me. I asked. The hubs said, "No."

So I've already ordered a t-shirt that has a mustache on it and the words "Little Man" pressed on it. I think that, paired with some jeans and a birthday-hat will be sufficient.

But I also want a cake smash. I've already purchased some 4" pans to make my own! :-) Will show pictures soon! Promise!!

And there's no way I'm going to let him ruin his adorable mustache tee while he smashes a cake to smithereens.

Therefore I've been browsing pinterest and found quite a few little men in suspenders. And lots of moms even gave the how-tos on how to do it, but I thought I would write up my experience anyway.

Because c'mon-- those moms can sew. Those moms probably do it all the time. They probably hand-make quilts and create fondant from scratch-- by memory.

I'm not one of those moms.

The most crafting I've done is scrapbooking {waaaaay back in highschool I won a gold medal for it! Believe me, they give them away for that. Just ask the FCCLA}.

Sure, I took home economics and I had a WONDERFUL teacher who inspired me to do many things-- learn to cook, interview for jobs, become a comfortable public speaker, aspire to be an educator myself-- but the only thing I ever learned to sew was a tote bag; which I gave to my mom and she carried everyday for years-- even though I don't really think it looked that great! {#i<3mymomma!}

So here goes a how to make suspenders for someone who's not a seamstress:

Disclaimer: I do own a sewing machine. I watched one too many Project Runways a few years ago while on summer break from college and decided I needed one. Luckily we didn't spend mucho dinero on one ourselves, as my grandmother had one she didn't use anymore.

First, I pulled the suspender clips over the knit elastic, making sure that the clip was -face-down-. Make sure it's face-down because you don't want your fold to show-- you want that hidden on the back. Fold the elastic under itself, like so, to hide the raw edge of the fabric. {I assume everyone does this because it keeps the knit was coming unraveled?}

Next, simply sew two lines across the elastic. This will hold your fold-under and secure your suspender clip.

You will now need to measure {or you could've planned ahead and measured ahead of time-- like I said, I'm no seamstress-- so I measured a napping baby lying in a crib!}. I found that I wanted Wyatt's suspenders to be 17" long, therefore I added two more inches to give myself space to fold the elastic under to again hide the raw edge.

Fold it under, like you did the opposite end. Be careful to place your suspender clip face down, as, again, you don't want the fold-under showing once it's clipped to baby. Sew that edge as well.

You know have one suspender complete!

Now do that all over again, to create your second suspender!

After that, Wyatt had woken up from his nap-- and in a bad mood to boot!

So I took this opportune moment to stretch the suspenders over his shoulders and cross them in the back to see where the best criss-cross would be.

I found that for him, crossing in the 4-5 inch space was best. He's 29" tall, so I guess you'll really need to try them out on your little guy to be sure.

Then I just pinned the criss-cross in the center and sewed a diamond. To make this go a bit quicker, you don't really have to stop sewing to make a corner in the diamond. Just make sure the needle is still penetrating the fabris, lift the shoe, turn, then continue on. This makes the entire diamond a single stitch line, without any breaks. {Again, I'm not sure that's the correct terminology, you if you're as clueless as me then we're speaking the same language!}