I’ll get to that in a minute…
Let’s talk about how James’ shirt turned out… I think he looks pretty snazzy in it… in fact… it looks like a replica of about 50 in my hubby’s closet. He has over 100 plaid shirts… long and short sleeve… (well, that was at my last count maybe a year ago.) So do you think my hubby approved of James’ new shirt? He sure did…in fact he said it looked like a real shirt he might wear. (Ha!)
I like this pattern, but will do a few things differently… I would like to see the placket down the front in one piece instead of a new placket stitched on… I would just do a tuck and fold it around and to the back… less bulky. Also, if it was one piece, your plaid would just continue on the placket and you wouldn’t have to spend time keeping it straight across the design…
The second thing I would do is make the placket just a hair wider so a piece of 1/4″ low profile velcro could be sewn on. This would help SO much with those buttons… the buttons have to be sewn on first on the top of the placket, then a 2 part snap has to be sewn on this very thin fabric. By the time you have the button, one piece of fabric, (I interfaced with lightweight interfacing) interfacing, the back side of the fabric, the snap, then the other side… the snap, the fabric, and the back side of the fabric… It’s TOO thick and too hard to keep it from looking pulled where the snaps are…
I would also make the tail of the shirt just a little bit longer on the sides, so it stays in the pants better… if you just slightly move the dolls arms, the shirt tail comes out at the sides.
The sleeves needed to be about 1/4″ longer… it is just barely long enough in my opinion… I’ve already added 1/4″ to my pattern so I won’t forget that one.
Anyway, even with all those things, it still turned out very cute. Let me show you…
So I got the shirt finished and thought, “Well, now let’s get those jeans whipped into shape.” I was going to shorten the rise, like I do men’s pants and make the crotch a little higher and the legs a little less full…
Well, the idea was great, but the denim had been stitched and stiched so many times trying to get the legs right, that it was fraying in the crotch and not much could be done to salvage it… They ended up looking like this…
Nope those will never do…
Then I pulled out the pair that I had tried to reduce the pattern from the “incredible” jeans… and they were just too big… even with the shirt tucked in… I think I’m going to have to reduce my pattern to something like 65% maybe. (Oh and Joy, you asked about having troubles with getting the pattern?) I went to buy the pattern and was going to pay with Paypal… I thought I did… waited a few minutes for the PDF file to download… and nothing happened. I looked to see what my latest purchases were from Etsy and it wasn’t there… so I went back to the site and bought it again…and this time I paid attention to what I didn’t do the first time and I had forgotten to click on the Paypal button… I had just clicked on the “pay with Paypal” but had forgotten to click on the Paypal button. As soon as I did that my pattern pdf came up… and was ready to download…
Anyway, these are my first try at the pattern… still too big even with a shirt tucked in…
I didn’t want to show you James’ shirt without showing them with a decent pair of jeans, so I put these on him with his new shirt so you wouldn’t think I was a loser seamstress! I may put belt loops on these and use them with this shirt, or I may try again with the lighter denim jeans… who knows!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend… we will be in the deep freeze the next few nights… it’s 31 degrees right now, but feels like 20! We have a 30% chance of snow through the night and into the morning…
See you Monday!
Blessings, Jeanne
Well, Jeanne, our 30% chance of snow turned out to be 100%!! The ground is covered!! As I write this, it is still sonwing and we have a pretty Christmas snow scene outside! So glad I got those leaves cleaned up when the weather was nice!
As far as the shirt, everything you said made sense, but this is really a cute shirt, and it looks good even outside the jeans, which is the way a lot of boys and men wear them. I can’t think of the name at the moment, but there is a company makes shirts exclusively to wear OUTSIDE of the pants or jeans.
Am I missing something? Where did the darker jeans come from? I love those best with the shirt! Actually, the darker jeans look more like “boy jeans” to me! They seem to have the lower boy cut waistline and look so much better! All James needs now is a spiffy pair of boots or maybe tennies!
I think you are right on about the changes you need to make to the shirt pattern, Jeanne. It’s really cute now, but it will be even better when you make the changes. One thing you might consider, though: if you keep to a separate placket piece (only a bit wider), you can then cut it plus the collar and cuffs on the bias, for a nice bit of contrast. The cut-on placket is a smarter use of your time, however.
Oh, dear, those poor jeans! They don’t Look particularly comfortable that way, either! I do like the dark ones with the plaid shirt, and I’m sure they would be just fine, if you start running short of time and want to get the outfit posted.
Today I spent shopping for little extras to tuck in with the baby gift (I took pictures and will send then along as soon as I get them loaded, maybe tomorrow or Sunday night). Everything is wrapped and ready now, and I’m getting excited to see Eric again and meet his wife. It’s been quite some time since I last saw Eric. He’s the oldest of our grands, but not our first one, as he came along when our son married his mother. They’re no longer married, but he’s still our grandson (I was quite touched that he was worried we wouldn’t be grandma and grandpa any more…).
Live and learn as they say. Lots of jean, “Jeanne” adjusting going on there. I do like the dark jeans, but adding those belt loops would make them perfect. James, is a trooper to model so much as well. Good Job!
Heading to see the grands. Oldest grand is getting a new bike, courtesy of the two people who live here, 🙂 as he rides with friends to school everyday. His dad picked it up yesterday and hopefully, it has been undiscovered in the garage until our arrival. 🙂
Have a fun weekend everyone.
The shirt is adorable the best I’ve seen for the boys! Those slight changes you mentioned will make it perfection. So sorry the Jean waistline is causing so much trouble. Everything seemed fine except for the high waist. Do you really need to reduce the whole pattern or just shorten the top of the pants before stitching on the waistband? Does it interfere that much with the fly front? Talk about a can of worms . . .
But our Jeannie will get it done. I see a white shirt and vest for Christmas in his future. Maybe even a similar outfit for one of the girls.
Yes, Dorothy, a vest! Make that a red plaid vest that matches the skirt or jumper on one of the girls! That would be a cute Christmas combo!
Yes, I too would like to see that vest/skirt combo for a pair of Ruby Reds. 🙂
First, I forgot to say I’m getting the blog fine straight to my Inbox. I’m no longer getting the one to my promo folder, but who cares.
It’s snowing here as I write this and it’s sticking! The kitties are enjoying the view from the front window. Luckily, I got the last of the leaves mowed/ bagged earlier in the week
James’ shirt is fantastic. That’s a great pattern and with a few tweaks will be perfect. I actually prefer the dark jeans with the shirt, but then I prefer dark jeans in general.
Hi everyone,
I just saw on Facebook where Charlotte fell about an hour ago and broke her arm just below her shoulder. She said she was in a lot of pain…
I told her the Sofa Sisters would send some prayers her way!
Thanks everyone,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, poor Charlotte! Of course she has many prayers and gentle hugs coming her way.
Thank you, Jeanne, for this news.
yikes! 30 degrees! Our son lives in the Chicagoland area, so I check their temperature regularly, and YUP they’re 31 degrees also! We’re in Phoenix, and I know this is lame, but I’ve been COLD here! (Full disclosure: I’m originally from WI and lived in Chicago as well- so I KNOW cold!!- I’ve just lived here so long my blood has thinned as they say!) I spent the night at one of our daughter’s home to watch our grandson, and they keep their home quite cool – I’m generally cold in their house in the summer at well.
Would you mind revealing what pattern you used from Pixiefaire for the shirt? I think it turned out great, and I also like the darker jeans, and am also confused about them.
I will say a prayer for Charlotte.