Our Oliver is quite the character. He is so particular about what he wears that recently, asking him to get dressed in the morning has gotten kind of ugly. It ends with clothing strewn about his room, and one very unhappy 3-year-old rolling around on the floor, crying “These pants aren’t COOOOOOL!”
Recently, in an attempt to understand exactly what “cool” is to Oliver, I discovered that plain anything (pants, shirts, socks, underwear) is uncool. Lightening strike pants, loud zippy colors, crazy patterns, bright orange dinosaur leggings, skeleton pajamas, or space-themed anything is cool. Which is a problem. Because nearly all of the hand-me-downs from Milo are simple, plain basics that I bought because of their plain-ness.
The solution? Fabric paint and a bit of creativity. A while back, I spotted these cool pants but absolutely could not justify their price tag (holy cow, they were expensive!), I decided to make them. Here’s how:
Materials Needed:
- White fabric spray paint (I used Tulip brand, found at Michael’s)- be careful NOT to get puffy fabric paint!
- Black sweatpants (these are Apaman from a couple of years back)
- Scissors
- Cardstock large enough to cut a pattern into, or you could even use a piece of fabric as long as you are careful to cut straight lines
First, carefully cut the shape you want into the card stock. Make sure your pants are flat on the area you are going to spray, then place the pattern on top of the area you want to paint.
Hold the pattern in place while you spray the paint on, then carefully remove the pattern. Wipe excess paint off with a paper towel (be sure to wipe underneath too!), and repeat on the other side. Allow to dry for 4 hours, and avoid washing for 72 hours. For best results, wash pants inside-out. And voila! Cool pants!
Once the king Oliver approved of the coolness, I made another pair, this one with O’s to match the X’s. He insisted on wearing them both on the same day. Success!
Now, let’s hope the third little guy is not quite so picky once these make it down the line to him!
Milo’s bandana is cute but functional- it is lightweight cotton, keeps the sun off his neck, and when soaked with water, also keeps him cool. We always dress in breathable cotton during the hot summer months.
