A Danish father has started sewing baby clothes for his young son after struggling to find boys’ trousers without cars and dinosaurs. Using second-hand fabrics and a borrowed sewing machine, Anders Bang now makes patterned trousers that have also become a way to challenge traditional ideas about fatherhood.
Bang told TV 2 in October that he wanted alternatives to the clothes he saw at a second-hand children’s shop. Instead of motifs commonly marketed to boys, he chose checks, stripes and flowers, sometimes adding his own embroidery.
From a borrowed sewing machine to Instagram
His first attempts involved mistakes and frustration. As he improved, he began sharing videos of the trousers on Instagram, showing the fabrics and designs he was making for his son.
But the response was not always encouraging. Bang recalled visiting a care home to buy used fabric, where staff laughed when he explained that he had sewn his son’s trousers himself. He said he had to insist that the work was his.
Sewing baby clothes is also about fatherhood
For Bang, the project is about more than finding clothes he likes. He wants to question the assumption that sewing is a woman’s hobby or that fathers must express their involvement with children in traditionally masculine ways.
I want to show that you can be a father in many ways.
He told TV 2 that helping to coach a football team and sewing trousers for a child can both be ways to take part in family life. He also hopes his son will not grow up believing that flowers and handicrafts are only for girls.
At the time of the October report, around 5,000 people followed his sewing projects on Instagram. He had begun sponsored collaborations with craft businesses and was considering selling some of the trousers in future. His immediate aim, however, was to share what he had learnt and encourage others.
