Falling apart at the seams

When Middle Brother was about 5 or so (?) he had a quite an impressive patch of poison ivy. It didn't start out that way – one day there was a little bit and by mid-afternoon the next day it was all over the place. I was babysitting so I was in charge of reapplying the Calamine lotion that day. Little people can't seem to stop from scratching & spreading that stuff all over the place.
Cotton ball in hand, I started applying the meds to the spot between his knees where the rash had started. Looking around, I realized that it had really spread. It had now spread to the other leg and covered most of the area between his legs up beyond the hem of his shorts.
"This is getting really bad! You’re just falling apart at the seams," I said.
Middle brother looked carefully at the seams in his shorts closest to the area where I had been dabbing on meds and said, "Where?"