After successfully making a t-shirt for Ezra, I had to go ahead and make the green shirt for Junah. It was a little daunting; what if she doesn't like it? Would we be back to the old green shirt?
I'm very glad I made a trial shirt because I definitely needed to alter the pattern, mostly in the sleeve cap area. Fortunately, I have Design-It-Yourself-Clothes by Cal Patch (an excellent reference even if you never get around to making the specific items in the book) and was able to make the modifications easily.
For months now, I've been keeping my eye out for the right lime-green knit for this project, and happened across some adult t-shirts at Michael's in just the right color (too bad they're a 50/50 poly-cotton blend, but one can't have everything). The great thing about using an existing t-shirt is getting the fabric and the ribbing altogether (provided there is enough ribbing to meet your needs).
I had some serger trouble so I ended up making the sleeves narrow than intended, but overall I'm amazed at how acurately I was able to recreate the fabled green shirt. I finished it one evening and hung it on a hanger on Junah's closet doorknob.
In the morning she saw it and said, "That's a boy green shirt! That's not for me!" She did try it on however, determined the sleeves where too tight, then ditched it in favor of her pajama shirt. Instead of stooping to grovelling and begging, I simply hung it up again and waited.
That afternoon she came out of her room dressed like this. Hallelujah! She hasn't asked for the old green shirt (which I'm saving, of course) once.
She even proudly showed it to Papa, saying, "Look, a new green shirt without holes!"
Since I began blogging in 2006 I've always had a hard time finding the right balance between family, blogging and all the other demands of life. That's why I'm loving Rachel Meek's ebook