Runaway Railway Or the Triumphant Return Home

I've been trying to do at least one shirt a year for my Dad. I don't always succeed - the Peekaboo Yukon is pretty labor-intensive and it can be hard to fit it in. But every shirt I have made him he has worn enthusiastically, to all his most favorite events, and reliably reports back any compliments he receives with pride. So, I have lots of incentive to keep him smartly dressed :-)

He's a big Potter, Disney, and Train fain, so past years have been Harry Potter, Harry Potter, and Christmas Trains. But a Christmas shirt can only be worn so often! So when I saw this Classic Mickey Train Cartoon Print, I knew what I had to do. 

I think I bought it mid-2020, but the real excitement came in May 2021. It was then that - with my parents vaccinated against the Coronavirus and the kids out of school - we were able to book a trip out to see my parents: the first time I'd seen my dad in person since our Multi-Family Disney Trip in September of 2019.

So - wanting to make a big splash on this much-anticipated vacation - I burned the midnight oil HARD for this creation. I started 2 weeks before the trip (usually I plan on three for a Yukon) and literally, I was finishing it up and sewing the buttons on the night before we got on the plane. Fortunately, I did have a backup in that my mom is a sewist and I could have used her machine, but... that would have spoiled the surprise (and the enjoyment of my own machine) just a bit.

I still have yet to get a collar stand on the Yukon so perfect you can button it, but my Dad is retired so he does not care. He loves all the shirts I make him anyway, and I think he looks pretty good in them. Here he is modeling my post-pandemic creation for him with pride: 

And showing off both shirt and maker with great enthusiasm:

I'm pretty sure that mostly, he was just happy to see me, and my husband, and the grandkids. But it certainly did not HURT that while we were there he got to look this dashing for all to see. He even wore it to the airport as he bade us goodbye.

And let me tell you, he was a good-looking man and it was hard to leave!