Tuesday, November 28, 2017

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.

2 comments:

  1. Looks super great! Short sleeves are a good choice for when the Hulk's bicep muscles expand. The length actually looks good too and you sure have one happy boy there wearing it! Glad it made up so quickly. Now you have hope of making a dent in your stash of knits.

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  2. It is kind of coincidental (and cool) that we are right next to each other in the Let's Bee Social #205 linkup – numbers 45 and 46.

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