I made Alex a shirt. I wanted something I could put together quickly that didn't require me to do anything especially fancy. I used Butterick 3475. I've made Alex shirts before, but this pattern was for just boys instead of for both genders. This made the fit more "manly". With the previous shirts I've made they were tighter in the body because they needed to look good on a little girl as well as a boy, but this one has a looser body. I really liked the pattern and I can forsee making it again this summer.
The problems were with me. The shirt has standard hemming on the sleeves, but after doing one I realized I wanted to hem the sleeves like Simplicity 3856 with a pintuck. I had already done the first one with a tight stitch and ripping it out was a huge pain. However, I persevered and after taking longer than it should have I finished it.
The second, much larger in my opinion, mistake was the buttonholes. First of all, before we get to my error, I want to say that my machine has a one step buttonhole. I remembered having issues with my buttonholes, but didn't remember why. I did one on test fabric. It looked fabulous. Confidant I then moved on the the actual shirt. I marked where they were supposed to go and started. It just kept sewing the same section over and over not making a buttonhole at all! I thought maybe it was a fluke and tried again with another while I tried to push and pull it to make it move along the fabric. Still a disaster. And then I had TWO not a buttonholes to seam rip. Buttonholes are not the most fun thing to take out (especially ones that have been messed up this way) and it took me a while. Then I tried again. This time I made a buttonhole that I had forced along, but it was slanted and looked a little funky. I started to get really frustrated. It was about this time I just so happened to push on the push plate that I had pushed when I made the first buttonhole and had, mistakenly, believed would stay pushed. It seems that was the magic word. Nothing in the directions mentioned that this plate had to re-pushed every time you make a buttonhole. With this new found knowledge I was finally able to make actual buttonholes. Relieved and tired I finished them up and sewed the buttons on. I was so proud of my work....
till the boy put it on and I realized they were not only too far over, but they were on a diagonal. The pocket also isn't the prettiest thing I've ever seen.
My son likes it though. He picked this fabric out himself from the clearance at Hancock Fabric. I think it only cost me a dollar or two. The buttons were Wal-mart cheapos. So, even with my mistakes, it's a keeper.
To make it up to him I also stitched up some super quick super easy cheater pillows.
I actually stuffed the long one with a pillow form I found a Joann's that fit the dimensions. He's in love.
And he's adorable! If he likes it, it's a win. Make him some blue pants and call it PJs. No one need ever know...
ReplyDelete(I'll pretend I've never done that. We have a lot of PJs around here.)