Like Father, Like Son

Patrones #177 Model #19

I promised my son a new shirt, and I had just enough fabric left from the shirt I made my husband for Christmas to cut out a shirt for my son, too. He was really excited to have a shirt made out of such an unusual fabric.

The pattern is a pretty straightforward short sleeve shirt pattern. I did not have enough fabric for the long sleeves and cuffs that I made for my husband's shirt.

Regarding the pattern itself, there are a few things to note. First, the sleeves do come to the elbows, as is shown in the model photo below. This is a little longer than some of my son's other shirts, but it doesn't bother him.

Second the collar as drafted is too big, actually too deep if that makes sense. The collar fits perfectly on the collar stand within the match points, but the collar itself is too big for the stand and shirt.

It doesn't seem to be out of proportion in the model photo.

I double checked to make sure I traced it right, and I did. I've never encountered this sort of problem with a Patrones pattern, so who knows, maybe it really was supposed to be that way? The collar itself is the same depth no matter which size you chose to trace (sizes 6, 8 or 10 years).

Fortunately, I caught the problem before I tacked down the collar stand facing and top stitched all around the collar stand. I was able to remove the collar, and restitch the long edge 1 1/4" (2.5 cm or so) smaller that the original. I compared this collar to other collars on shirts my son owns to find an appropriate size. I also made sure that once the collar was rolled down, it wasn't too short to cover the neck seam.

The collar is much better at this size. The whole shirt is a bit too large for my son, but he will grow into it and be able to wear it for the rest of the school year.

One last note, regarding interfacing. You can see in the photo below the interfacing cut out and ready to be fused to the collar pieces. Note that without seam allowances, I can cut a very small seam allowance for the interfacing. This not only saves interfacing but reduces much of the bulk. I do keep a tiny seam allowance which helps to anchor the interfacing within the piece, just in case the fusible interfacing decides to let loose eventually.

Tomorrow I'll introduce the Rabbit Project and describe to you exactly what I'm going to be doing to make five rabbit costumes.

Parting Shot: Self-portrait. He got the camera first this morning and was as pleased as ever to take another self portrait. The last one was taken when I finished the yellow shirt for him last summer.