One
of my nephews had a birthday coming up and I knew that a homemade gift would be
expected so I set about trying to design an easy to make toddler shirt. I
bought the fabric several months ago when I saw it in my local Abakhan shop, it
was specifically bought with the idea of making a toddler shirt in mind as it’s
a solid but lightweight fabric with a little stretch too.
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| The finished shirt |
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| Abakhan haul |
Trying
to decide how to make the pattern as easy as possible I had a look at a conventional
shirt and determined to reduce the basic shirt shape into as few pieces as
possible. I concluded that really only three pattern pieces would be needed: a
back piece, a single front piece (that could be used for both sides), and a
sleeve piece. Originally, I was going to add a collar but decided later on that
it wouldn’t add anything to the design and might even make it more
uncomfortable.
After
collecting basic measurements from my nephew I made a very simple, quite square
shirt pattern, and then used tailors chalk to mark my fabric – it was crucial
at this stage to make sure the pattern matched up across all the pieces. Using
my new rotary cutter and cutting mat I’d got for my birthday I quickly cut out
all the pieces I needed, being very careful not to let my hand slip!
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| I love this new rotary cutter but it's very sharp |
My
first step for sewing was to attach the front pieces to the back piece. This
was easy, I positioned the pieces right sides to right sides and stitched
across the shoulders and down the side seams, which left the two arm holes
ready for the sleeves to be inserted.
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| The cut fabric |
To
construct the sleeves I folded over each sleeve piece and then straight stitched
the seam that would eventually be under the arm. To hem the end I simply turned
the edge of the fabric up and used a straight top stitch along the edge. Now to
insert the sleeves, and ensure that the side seam of the shirt matched the
underarm stitching on the sleeve, I tacked the sleeve into position before
securing it with my sewing machine.
The
neckline was tackled next, and I was incredibly lazy and decided to simply fold
the fabric over and run a top stitch along the edge to secure it. This worked
really well as the slight stretch in the fabric meant it folded really easily
and lay flat once complete. The bottom hem was then finished with a basic roll
hem, as were the two overlapping edges of the front pieces, ensuring there was enough
overlap left to affix the buttons.
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| Basic roll hem |
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| The neckline |
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|
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| constructed but no buttons yet |
As
normal I chose acrylic buttons, but to keep the shirt looking in scale I used
smaller 15mm buttons, as usual I bought them from eBay. Once again the button
hole setting on my sewing machine saved me lots of time, and I can honestly say
I don’t miss the days of hand stitching every button hole like I had to with my old little sewing machine!
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| I buy buttons in bulk |
I
loved the final result, the way the skulls matched up on the front worked out
far better than I could have hoped and the simple design means it’s a loose and
comfortable shirt, ideal with a little long sleeved top underneath when it’s
cool or light enough to be worn on its own during the summer.
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| The inside |
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| I love the pattern matching |
Despite my
reservations it was very easy to make, and undoubtedly will become a favourite
design, much like my beloved tab top dresses – because style is important, but
for children comfort and simplicity will always win.
All
blog content and photos are Copyright of Charisse Sayers Proofreader &
Copywriter www.charisse-sayers.com I
welcome all feedback and would love to know your thoughts so please get in
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