I finished another t-shirt for Seth. That is one wonderful thing about boys-they are easy to clothe. My boys live in t-shirts and I have to bribe them to wear anything else.

I also finished a pair of shorts for Seth. I drafted this pattern myself, and it turned out pretty good. I think I made them a little too long, but they always seem to shrink more when I wash them after they’re finished. Even though I wash the fabric a couple of times before I make them.

These shorts have pockets with a pocket bag. That’s my second attempt at pocket bag pockets, and it was a little easier than the first time. I still had to watch my craftsy.com class with Kenneth D. King as I did the pockets, because I can’t remember all the steps unless I have Kenneth there to help me remember.

Also, the twill I made these shorts out of is the twill that keeps on giving. I can’t remember how many yards I bought of it, but it must have been a lot because I’ve already made three pairs of pants out of it for Seth, a pair of shorts for Ezra, I have a pair of pants cut out of it for Owen, and there’s still a lot more there.

I love the shirring down the front of the swim suit Jon made for me (see last post) so I decided to make a shirt with shirring down the entire front. I used my scoop tee pattern and a scrap of fabric I had left over from a cardigan I made a couple of months ago.

I had to use some maneuvering skills to be able to have enough fabric there to cut out all my pieces, but I did it and this is all that was left of what was 3 yards of fabric before I cut the cardigan out:

I love the feeling of using every last bit of a big load of fabric.

Here’s the shirt:

I couldn’t gather it as much as the swim suit since this fabric is really thin and it would have looked ridiculous. But I’m happy with how it turned out and I’m going to make more like that for sure.

I finished a t-shirt for my baby:

I’m going to make my husband a t-shirt too, but first I am going to pause the blue and white stripes and make me a top because honestly, I like sewing for myself the best. I appreciate it the most, ya know? You will never, ever find one of my homemade shirts in a pile of mud out in the backyard.

Up next, I am going to put together some tips and tricks for sewing with knits on a regular sewing machine. Stay tuned!

My four year old is very picky about his food and even pickier about his clothes. There was a time when he’d only wear orange shirts, a time when he would only wear basketball shorts, a time when he’d wear nothing but pajamas all day.

Right now, he wears a ratty old pair of socks with holes all over in them ALL THE TIME. It’s a struggle to get them off for anything.

Anyway…

Because of this, I haven’t made as many clothes for him as I have for my other kids. It’s really deflating to finish something new for him and watch his face fall as he glances over and tells me he doesn’t want to wear something that looks like that.

So last week, I was really pumped when he saw some blue and white striped fabric in my new stash that came in the mail and begged me to make him a shirt out of it.

He stared at the fabric and stroked the fabric and carried it around the house with him.

I waited a couple of days just to make sure he still liked the fabric after some time passed. He was still in love, so I whipped out a shirt:

He put it on the second it was finished and ran around the house, excited as can be. He wore it all weekend on our trip to visit family. He played outside in it and ate in it and got stains all over it.

I washed it and he wore it again today. What a funny little guy. I’m glad I finally made something he likes!

I think I will make a bunch of t-shirts this week because all my kids need more for the summer. And I love making t-shirts because they’re so easy.

I’ve thought about putting up a free pattern and tutorial for a children’s t-shirt because I want to share the love. But first, I have that skirt pattern to finish…

Your turn:

If I posted a free children’s t-shirt pattern and tutorial, would you use it? What size would you like it to be?