Sunday 24 February 2013

BurdaStyle 10-2010-147 boy's shirt

There are a lot of people who regularly sew for their sons. I am not one of them, being easily distracted by more-appealing-to-me feminine clothing. However, I often intend to sew for my son, sewing for someone being an expression of true love IMO, and when he goes fabric shopping with me (a thankfully rare occurrence, due to a fabric appreciation duration of approximately 5 minutes) he likes to pick out fabric for himself. He has a good eye for colour and loves a loud shirt print, which are quite fun to sew, really, once I get started. This fabric is a souvenir from New Zealand (January 2012 fantastic family holiday), being pure Kiwiana quilting cotton with a print of the endemic toi-toi.

 BurdaStyle 10-2010-147 

Getting started on this fabric was quite tricky, because he has outgrown the largest size, + 2 uptracings of the shirt pattern I use for him. I got rather distracted whilst pursuing my Burdas for a boy's shirt, but after only half a dozen projects or so, came across this pattern in the October 2010 Burda. 


Technical drawing from http://www.burdafashion.com/fr 
  

This is not a boy's shirt pattern, but a shirt dress/tunic, but as it is just an elongated shirt, and thinking that 10 year old boys and girls do not differ greatly, I went ahead with it anyway, in size 140cm, this being correct in height and only a few cm too big in girth for my son - in the boy's sizes in Burda. I shortened the tunic by 10cm, according to the finished length desired, but made no other sizing changes.

 BurdaStyle 10-2010-147 shirt 

 The shirt does fit, but rather too perfectly for a new item for growing child, which is entirely my fault. Apparently 140cm boys are about 4cm thicker in girth than size 140cm girls, according to Burda, and I should have made him the next size up in the girls' size. Fortunately he is slim for his height, in an entirely masculine way of course ;).

 DSC00891 

 You can see that I have made a few adaptations to the pattern.

 DSC00895 

 I shortened the sleeves, for more use in a subtropical climate (also arms grow very quickly out of long sleeves with cuffs), and used contrast fabric for the inner collar stand, inner yoke, and added to the top of the pocket. I constructed the lined yoke by machine using this method. For the front placket, I used a 3 layer cut on folding technique as described in David Page Coffin's book Shirtmaking. I did not try to match any of the pattern, other than cutting with nap, and cutting the fronts so that the pattern lined up horizontally. I also used a fancy topstitching pattern of 3 stitches alternating with a single stitch, as I did not want the topstitching to be lost in the loud print. 

DSC00879 
 I like the contrast details, and although he looks rather grim in the photographs, I believe this has mild garment approval from the recipient.
 This is another item for the February Stashbusting Challenge, using 1.2m of stash. Unfortunately there are some rather large scraps which I am putting straight into a bag for my quilting mother. There, gone!

20 comments:

Dilliander said...

Very smart! You son does look pleased and the shirt is a wonderful souvenir of your fun family holiday!

velosews said...

He looks great. Very masculine too.

katherine h said...

Really nice shirt, sewn and fits beautifully. This is a tricky age to find patterns for...great adaptation!

Bernice said...

I'm not one for sewing for my boys either...much. He looks lovely in the shirt. I'm most impressed with your neat stitching.

Summer Flies said...

Oh yes very nice. It is difficult to find patterns for boys excepting Ottobre and Burda. He looks happy enough and altho it won't last long it is nice to see a well fitted shirt on a boy always.

Sue said...

I have promised my older son a shirt, have the fabric and the pattern, but keep getting distracted by sewing for myself - so I am totally with you. You make great shirts - I love the fabric - a great souvenir!

Little Hunting Creek said...

Beautiful shirt! I really like the contrast pocket trim-very nice:)

Kyle said...

Great job on the shirt, and I really like the print your son chose!

liza jane said...

Aww, can I say he's a cutie, or will that offend? I mean, he looks very manly. I really love the contrast stitching. Was that a decorative stitch on your machine?

fabric epiphanies said...

I do sew for my boys but not often. Boys clothes seem to be big on detail and time consuming but not overly interesting. I was thinking just last night as the three males in my life dressed in collared shirts for dinner, that I should make them one each. I am still considering it. Your boy looks very smart in his new shirt. In ten year old speak, he has swag!

Karin said...

Beautifully sewn, as usual! He looks great. Your family is so lucky to have you sew for them all.

Steph A said...

Wonderful shirt! He looks very smart in it. I love the fabric, it's a great pattern, and the contrasting fabric is terrific! I really like the fit of this shirt, it's much better than the Jalie I made for my boys recently.

By the way, thanks for your comments on my burda top. I'm going to give your ideas a try and see if I can resurrect it!

MushyWear said...

What a handsome young man, and what a fabulous new shirt!

Sharon said...

Wonderful shirt for your son, and what a great reminder of your holiday.

The Slapdash Sewist said...

This shirt is too adorable (in a manly way, of course). I love that your son believes in prints. The little detail on the pocket is just perfect.

EmSewCrazy said...

He looks great and you'd never know you started with a girl's pattern. It is nice to see a guy, even a young one, in a fitted shirt!

Gabrielle said...

That's a great looking (very masculine too) shirt and your son looks very handsome in it. I like the contrast details and your really neat topstitching - coupled with the great holiday print it makes for a very interesting piece of clothing!

My son doesn't get much in the way of sewing from me - he'd love a shirt like this though.

Carolyn said...

This is a fun shirt, and the colours really suit him :)

SEWN said...

Cute boy and shirt!

Tia Dia said...

This shirt put a smile on my face. :) Perfect fabric for a shirt.