4th of July: What Geth Wore

 Each year I dither for weeks about keeping up with my crazy tradition of sewing 4th of July outfits. And each year I find myself burning the midnight oil the night before. I have a hard time giving it up, even though the kids get filthy the second I put my creations on them. Maybe I'll give it up next year... Yeah, right.

Fourth of July Outfits

For Geth, I made an oliver + s Sketchbook shirt and a pair of Mini Hudson pants. For the button down, I chose a nautical chambray I found at Hobby Lobby a while ago. It's been waiting in the stash to become either shorts or a shirt. JoAnn had some lovely red ponte knit (it's soooo soft) that I bought specifically for these mini Hudson pants.

front view

I've made two pairs of Mini Hudson pants now and I love them. My loathing of sweatpants runs deep (really, they are such a cop out piece of clothing), but these are stylish and comfy. Win, win. Geth loves them, too.

pocket detail and tag

back view

During July's KCW, I made a muslin of the Sketchbook shirt, as I've found oliver + s patterns to be more generous in the ease than I like for my lean little man. This ended up being true for this pattern as well. I graded between a size 18 - 24 m width and a 4T length.

oliver + s Sketchbook shirt

front view

The Sketchbook's collar is in one piece, which looked unfinished and more feminine to me.  For a shirt that I spent so much time on, I wanted it to look as professional as I could, not just half done. So, I added a collar stand, using the option B mandarin collar and redrafting the view A collar to accommodate the stand. Now the collar folds perfectly and looks less homemade. (I'm rather picky about that.)

collar detail

collar stand detail

collar stand back detail

Other than reducing the width ease and adding the collar stand, I didn't stray from the pattern. oliver + s patterns might seem expensive, but they really are worth the extra money. (I've purchased mine during sales) Everything I've made from their line ends up looking lovely. Not to mention that they are beautiful - their designers did a fabulous job doing the technical writing and illustrations.

back view

back detail

I foresee many more modified Sketchbook shirts in Geth's future - it's so nice to have a dress shirt that doesn't appear to be swallowing him whole!