A Superhero Shirt

Sewing for boys is hard. Not hard to do, but hard to decide. It sometimes feels like "girlie" fabrics outnumber the boyish ones, 3:1, and most of the good fun sewing pattern shops I find online are geared towards girls. There's a lot you can do by adding frills and ruffles to a girl's top or dress, but typically all the boys' patterns I find are for basics: the kind of stuff it's cheaper to buy in the store unless you manage to find Just the Right Fabric(tm).

Fortunately, thanks again to Sweet N Charmed, I got a hold of this lovely comic-book character print in a Cotton Jersey stretch knit.

When I pulled it out of the box, my son grabbed it and started dragging it around with it like a blanket. Well, OK: I can take a hint. I haven't made him anything since his Chompers Hoodie over a year ago, and my daughter has scored a Shark Dress and a Shark Shirt (which she never wears, sigh) during that time. Plus, I'd already put together a raglan for myself: how hard could a raglan for a toddler be?

I had a gift certificate from Etsy, so while I drooled a bit over the boys' raglan from New Horizon Designs, I ultimately went with the Explorer Raglan Pattern from Made by Jack's Mum. I had to contact MBJM to ask about imperial/metric (she's from the UK) and she responded quickly to assure me the pattern contained English units, so I bought the pattern. But when I printed it out, the proportions of the pattern were... well, they weren't very toddler-like.

My son wears an 18-24m on top, and so I thought I'd make a 2T. But when I went to double-check the measurements, I found that his waist measurement went with a 3T which, OK, that's reasonably close. But then the length measurement indicated by the pattern was FOUR INCHES longer than the top he was wearing. That's a long shirt on a kid who's under 36"!

I ended up making the shirt in a 3T as indicated, and hemming it under by about an inch and a half, rather than the recommended 1/4". It's still a long shirt, but not SO long that it looks out of touch with the style. I'm just lucky he's long & lean for his age, or I'd be hemming it a LOT more.

Also, I've gotta say - not a big fan of 1/4" seams with knits... It's a little nervewracking to manipulate a stretchy fabric with so little room for error - although I guess it does make for efficient cutting!

That said, I am very pleased with the end result. The shirt turned out super cute, and it was incredibly, amazingly fast to make. Like, I cut it out one evening after dinner and sewed it entirely the next, which NEVER happens with my busy schedule. Plus, it looks good on: and little I is thrilled to have a "Hulk" shirt made by his mother. I think my only mistake was making short sleeves in September, but that's easily corrected, as I will certainly be making this raglan again.

Linking up to Let's Bee Sewcial for fun.