Breathable Soft Cash

After the kiddo's last dentist appointment, I took him to JoAnn Fabric to pick out cloth.  Now, my intent was to use the cloth to make many more pairs of Obnoxious Shorts™, but he said he would rather have some of them as shirts.

 Not a problem!  ...mostly...




I already had Burda 9419, a kids' shirt pattern with contrasty options

 so yay built-in print mixing.

...but...since I wanted to keep the full size range of this pattern and so not cut it (Burdas don't get discounted too often, y'know), but I also figured this would call for a bit more precision than my usual  "pin right along the cutting lines and cut under the pattern next to that," I decided to be extra good and actually trace the pattern pieces

and on freezer paper instead of the dwindling roll of butcher paper of unknown provenance.

I wanted to be good!  I wanted to follow the instructions!  Really!

...the first issue was that I was working with significantly less cloth than the envelope called for--1 yard when it called for 1 3/8 yard.  Creativity was needed only for the sleeves.

I ended up cutting them on...well, not on the bias, but on a bias.  Then I had to piece the corners.

 Here's how it looked from the inside, before the step where the contrasts are folded inward and stitched, then the whole deal folded to the outside and these pieced bits

are completely hidden.  And, since the sleeves and the cuffs are all cut on one bias or another, things fold fairly nicely.

And I thought--I really did!--that would be the only deviation from the pattern and instructions.

But then I folded, pressed, and stitched the front bands.  I do not always have the tension set properly on my sewing machine, so instead of being good and testing and adjusting as needed, I...just...try to do all top stitching from the front.  This, of course, results in varying levels of success when it comes to catching the folded bits on the underside.

This side turned out fine(well...'fine' enough.)

 This side turned out very much not fine.

So I hung the shirt-so-far on the closet door and glared at it for a while, trying to build my brain up to the point of picking out the stitches, unfolding everything, ironing it flat, re-folding, re-pressing, and re-stitching.

However.

The shirt front looked bland, and the fact that I did not have enough fabric to pattern match across the opening...well, that was something I'd already decided I would live with, but the blandness was unacceptable.  (Yes it is a loud money print with a contrasting star print pocket and inside collar band and yoke but it was still bland.)

So I picked out the stitches on that side, unfolded everything on that side, cut off all but 5/8" outside  the innermost fold, and then applied a contrast band, the kind of contrast band where everything is folded inside the contrast on the front and so top stitching only matters on one side and it ended up like this

and that is so much better.

Unfortunately, since I had clipped and graded and all that on the previous incarnation of the front band, things are a bit dodgy at the lower corner

and there's an issue with stray fabric threads.  It's not too obvious from a decent viewing distance, so I may not do anything with it.

Beyond the sleeves and front band, everything went together easily!  I mean, it still took me over a week to sew, but, when I did have the motivation to sew work on this, there were no challenges.  (I struck out 'sew' because I was sewing other stuff--several pieces of doll clothes, in addition to the school supply zip pouches.  I was just really balky at sewing this.)  And I think it turned out decently

Oh, I did want to mention, regarding the button holes...  I do use a button holer, and I used to use very pointy little scissors to cut them open.  In the long ago days, I had a sewing tool Mom had given me that was marketed expressly as a button hole cutter.  It was a plastic craft scalpel with a flat blade on the end, and it worked well, even if the button holes I was making back then were terrible 4-step sewing machine button holes.  I still managed to use it until the bits holding the blade broke, then it was back to careful scissors--but that was OK, because I hated the 4-step machine button holes anyway, so pfft to buttons!  Then I get the button holer (and the presser foot that holds buttons so they can be zigzagged) and suddenly there was lots of love for buttons!  ...but...no love for cutting the holes open with scissors.  I thought about buying another of those button hole cutting scalpel thingies, but I hesitated because I was already dreading it breaking again.  Then a confluence of Tuesday Morning finds gave me several 'variety packs' of X-acto blades and a handle that matched my aesthetics so now I can cut buttonholes open with this

so yay.

I did not interface the front bands--I knew it was a risk, but I was hoping there would be enough layers of cotton to hold the proper shapes once buttoned.  Seems to have worked!

 

I'm considering tacking the cuffs in place, but will wait until the shirt's been worn to see how things...ah...unfold.

 

And of course, top stitching everywhere.  Sleeves were attached with the method shared by the MalePatternBoldness blog.

I wanted to use the contrast print (which was thrifted and gifted by Tiffy--thanks again!) for the outer yoke, but the kiddo nixed that.  Ah, well, I'm leaning toward the idea of making a proper button-up shirt for me sometime, I can mix as many prints wherever I want.

When I showed him the finished shirt, he gave a Brent Rambo nod/thumbs up and then made a counting money gesture, so I guess it's meme enough for him.

Now, only five more pieces of cloth left that he picked out that day...