Rampaging Raglans!

Normally, Sewing projects take me a while. A couple minutes of cutting out here, a few quick seams there... I'm a working mom with two small kiddos, so I take what I can get. But in early December, I really lucked out; My husband (who often has to work weekends in the fall) had off, we didn't have anything major planned, and the kids were in a surprisingly independent mood.

So, I busted out the sewing machine, and made not one, not two, but THREE Raglans for my kids. Be still my heart!

First up was a Ninjago Raglan for my son, who loves that show with a passion. He has waited with WAY more patience than my daughter has between garments (probably because he is littler and less opinionated), but when I showed him his choice of three fabrics, this is the one he was quick to pick.

I got it from a Destash group and so I don't know who ran it, but I am also in quite a bit of love with it, because of the slightly-watercolor feel and vibrant colors. Initially I auditioned a LOT of different colored solids with the print, but ultimately my husband talked me into using black, and I'm glad he did. It makes the characters stand out, rather than the sleeves.

My son actually loves the shirt, but every time I put it on him, he revolts at the idea of taking pictures. I made this in a size 4 but shortened it by 1.5" since last time the size 3 I made was ridiculously long. There's extra length in the hems should I elect to use it: we'll see if my son's love for the shirt eclipses my hatred of ripping out knit stitches.

Next up was my daughter, who developed a sudden obsession with the Nightmare Before Christmas. The weekend I did this, it had been all she could talk about for a month. Even my 2-year old son can now say "Jack Skellington" - although at Custom Destash Prices (and on the heels of his new Ninjago wear), he did NOT get his own version of the shirt. But I DID get to satisfy my urge for color sleeves!

The print is a parody called "Merry Nightmare," by Mk*Designs and my husband gamely kept our daughter out of the kitchen the entire time I was cutting it, and through about 80% of the sewing process;  she caught on eventually, though, and escaped him just as I was hemming the sleeves. Secrecy is not big at our house. Ironically, I her shirt was ALSO a 4T (in width anyway; in height I went with 5T and didn't need to), because she is taller but not that much bigger around, apparently. She loves the shirt and was more than happy to model it. I've also caught her climbing up her closet shelves so she can reach it. It's one of the first things to disappear from her closet after laundry day.

And finally, in what can only be described as a state of disbelief akin to winning the lottery, I realized that I had finished this shirt on a Sunday afternoon with no plans for the evening (other than cleaning, but Mr. RLQ indulged me), so I started in on a THIRD raglan.

This one uses a print called Color Wars, which seemed custom made for my son who immediately yells "Saber! Light Saber! Light Saber!" whenever he sees an image of the iconic Jedi weapon, He's also a huge fan of light saber battles at home, and can name at least half of the characters represented on the fabric (for which his father, also a star wars nut gets credit). The 4T Ninjago shirt for my son turned out a LITTLE big, so I went back to 3T on this one, figuring it was more 'of the moment" and did not need to last so long.

It's definitely not a favorite the way the Ninjago shirt is, but you can't win everything all the time. And really, the idea of finishing 3 projects in, well, basically a weekend (technically Monday to Monday, but the bulk of the work was done over the weekend)? HUGE win. I am assisted by the fact that raglans are basically composed of straight line seams + some hemming and a neckband, but hey: a finish is a finish. Here are my little achievements side by side,

And here they are on their respective owners:

So glad they are loved!