2 Maxwell Shirts

I have had it in my mind to make Grant a 4th of July Maxwell shirt and one for our family reunion since I bought the pattern months ago.  Leave it to me to wait until the last week, and right after Relay for Life to get it started.  I will say it was so much easier making this the 2nd and 3rd time around.  That could be for a couple reasons...1 being I've made the shirt before so I'm more familiar with the pattern and instructions, or 2 because I actually cut the pattern pieces out the way they were supposed to be cut out, including the button plackard.  Button holes make me nervous, I think it's because I have to change out presser foots on my machine, make sure the buttons line up with the holes, and measure where to put them all.  Plus if you screw them up they are right there in front and everyone is bound to notice.

So what did I do about this fear of mine......I sewed both the shirts to the point of having no steps left other than button holes and buttons.  Which I guess is a good thing because I only had to switch the presser foot out once and I could run through and face my fear all at once instead of in 2 installments, 1 for each shirt.

 

 

I'm so excited they are done and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing my to-do list is shorter.
I'm super proud of them, especially the light blue one.  I've had a garbage bag full of some of my husbands old dress shirts, pants, polo shirts, etc, for over a year and have done very little with any of them.  Of course my plan from the day I had him clean out his closet was to make Grant some clothes from them.  It has taken me this long to make that happen.

Kind of sad when you think about it, but oh well.  I used 2 of his shirts to make the lighter blue one.  1 for the main body of the shirt and a small piece of another for the yolk on the back.  This was the first and only shirt of the 3 I've made that I didn't use the same coordinating fabric for the pocket flaps and the yolk.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of Grant actually wearing his 4th of July shirt but unfortunately it rained all day and we didn't make it outside or to the fireworks, so it didn't dawn on me to get the camera out.  I will say he looked pretty darn cute in it.

Kids Clothing Week-a little delayed

I had grand plans for kids clothing week and so many ideas of what I wanted to accomplish for my first go around.  I didn't officially sign up for KCW because even though I had grand plans I knew there was alot going on with a baby shower and a Minnie Mouse birthday (more on this later), and of course what we do best-moving. 

I guess I should be proud of the fact that I did get a few things accomplished along with all those other things stealing my attention.  I think I over estimated what I could accomplish with a 2 year old at my feet and not sleeping but with all that being said I do have some things to show off.

I made my neice a couple more pillowcase nightgowns.  My mom requested more for this summer because she loved the one I made here.  She found these striped pillowcases, 2 in a package, for $1 at a discount store, and I got the stretch ribbon at Hobby Lobby @ 50% off for $1.50.  So all in all each nightgown cost a total of $1.25, you can't even go to Wally World and buy a little girls nightgown on clearence for that price.

Of course as usual I didn't get pictures with the kids in their clothes because toddlers in this house don't seem to like my camera very much.  They turn their back to me, run in the opposite direction, and lay face down on the floor when I say "come take a picture for me".

I also made a shirt for Grant.  I bought the Maxwell shirt pattern a couple months ago with KCW in mind.  I have quite a few of derricks old button up shirts I've wanted to repurpose for Grant and decided it was the perfect pattern to attempt it. 

 

My husband's shirt before I started cutting it to pieces:

Maxwell Shirt front:

 

Back:

 

It is so darn cute I can't stand it and I have to say I'm pretty proud even with the mistakes I made in the process of putting it together. 

I'm going to be honest because lets face it we all should be, this shirt has alot of problems.  Not due to the pattern, I absolutely love this pattern and it's super easy to follow so you should definately buy it if you have a cute little boy in your life.  All of my errors were because of myself, ugh, wish I could blame someone else but I can't.

Button holes make me nervous, don't ask why they just do.  So I had the grand idea to avoid having to make so many I would just use the existing button plackart (have no clue if thats how you spell that but you know what I mean).  I just left that pattern piece in the envelope and went on my merry way cutting and sewing.  If I was a better sewer or had done this before maybe it would have turned out better but because I hadn't I had to improvise on more than one occasion.

I feel it's necessary to purge these imperfections to all of you so here they are:

 

Top of the button plackard



 

The inside collar

 

Inside button plackard

I'm gonna say these blemishes give this shirt a little character, and take this as a learning experience rather than being uptight about it (which I usually would be).  Normally when I sew clothes (or anything for that matter) and the above happens I start to get flustered and say many choice words (not outloud of course) to my sewing machine, the pattern, my scissors, or anything else I can blame for my lack of perfection.  But not this time.  I took it and ran with it making the best of the situation.

Aww, I'm growing up becoming a big girl.

I have intentions of making a few more of these shirts and next time I'll make it and face my button hole fears and hopefully show off a shirt with a few less imperfections.  There's no point in hoping for perfection, it's just not gonna happen.