Petra's Sewing Blog and More...: June 2013

It was Oscar's birthday last month, and as we have a tradition of me making him a piece of clothing for his birthdays and Christmases each year, this year I've decided to make him a pair of shorts, as a pair I made him couple of years ago was too small. I usually shop for fabrics online, but could not find anything suitable, and then I found lovely Ralph Lauren men's shirt in a charity shop for about £8, which was going to be perfect for the job. Oscar agreed, so I could start my work. The trouble is that I am not very tidy when it comes to my patterns. I knew I used a pattern from a Burda magazine and that I did not have to alter it at all. So I was going to just make it bigger. Quite a difficult job, if you cannot find the right issue of the magazine. After some serious searching I found an old pattern. I think I'm going to buy myself a folder and do some serious filing to avoid stressful moments like these.

Sewing the shorts went smoothly though. I made them a little bit bigger and longer, so there is a space for growth. The waist can be adjusted. I have used three buttons on each side of the waistband and there is also elastic at the back part of the waistband. They are still comfortable and will last him at least two summers.

They have six pockets, two front ones, two on the back and two side ones, I have used 17 buttons and hand sewn all the buttonholes, all 13 of them. Time consuming but just looks so much better. I tried sewing buttonholes on the machine before, but just don't like it. It's always worth going an extra mile.

Oscar seems to be happy with them, he only had one requirement, which was having my name label on them. How sweet! He really does appreciate handmade stuff, as he sees how much effort, attention and love goes into making each item.

Here's few pictures of Oscar posing in his new shorts after he wore them all day, hence grass stains on his knees :-).