I found it. When I made the purple Snoopy shirts from the pattern Sew Easy 118, I had bemoaned the fact that the smallest size in the pattern was a size 6. As you might know, I prefer to sew tab front shirts with a cut tab rather than a slit tab, so at the time I was wishing that pattern 118 also had smaller sizes. While digging in the pattern box for another pattern, I found the pattern Sew Easy 117, a cut tab front shirt in sizes 1 to 4. Obviously, I don’t remember buying this pattern or where it came from. But I am sure it came from the same thrift store as the pattern 118, and I probably got it at the same time), but somehow it had gotten separated from my other kid’s patterns and I was thrilled to find it again. I knew my next projects would be to make a kid’s shirts from this pattern.
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Setting on top of one of the piles in the stash was this red with stripes single knit fabric. I had pulled it out to make a sleeper from it but since it was just a scrap piece, there was not enough for a sleeper. It was though big enough for this pattern, size 1. I traced the size 1 pieces and quickly cut the pattern out. Once again, because the pattern was an older style, I shorten the tab, not by too much because I didn’t want to shorten it so much that the shirt would go over the kid’s head.
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Confident that I could easily sew up this tiny shirt in minutes, because I have sewn so many cut tab fronts on the husband’s shirt over the years, I started to sew. I was rudely awaken to the fact that the tiny cut tab front was not so easily stitched as he husband’s larger tabs. I learned very quickly to reduce the number of stitches per inch on the sewing machine as I unpicked and rest stitched the tab. The preset stitch length that I normally have my machine set on was to large to get nice even corners for the small tab. I also learned to cut the tab much more carefully. I learned that a larger tab,bigger shirt, is much more forgiving of sloppy sewing. So, my quick sew of this small shirt took a lot more time than expected but was definitely a learning experience.
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The embroidering on this small shirt was also not as fun as on a larger shirt. Most of my designs are approximately 4 by 4 inches. Although I could have squeezed a design that large on the front of this shirt,it would have laid from the tab to the armpit. Not really the look I wanted. So I had to pick a smaller design and even at that I had to pick one the was larger vertically than horizontally. Because I made this shirt with no design in mind to stitch on it, I was not disappointed when I finally picked Mickey Mouse as the finally design for this shirt. In fact, I love the Mickey on the shirt. The colors and Mickey mix well, and of course Mickey Mouse is always so cute.
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In the end, even though this did not turn out to be a quick easy sew, I am still thrilled to have this pattern, a cut tab front shirt in smaller sizes. I am planning to take the things I learn from makings this little shirt and make more.
Sew Forth and Sew On 