A big boy shirt for Dil

While I was in France, I rummaged through my grandmother’s attic quite a bit; she had instructed me to look through stuff and take whatever fabrics and old clothing I liked (I will have to post about my finds).
I came across this really sweet red gingham checked shirt that she had made for my little brother – now almost 18 – when he was about three years old. I decided I should copy that pattern and make a big-boy shirt with a vintage flair for Gabe’s two-year-old nephew, Dil. I used some really neat black gingham checked fabric that was lying around and went to work.

I put in some red piping here and there and found some cute boat buttons to match. I particularly enjoyed embroidering Dil’s name on the pocket, I think it gives the shirt a hipness as well as a cuteness, no? He gave it a test run yesterday, I have to get an action shot in soon.

Overall, this was such a breeze to make, thanks to my mom’s 30-year old Elna and my grandmother’s guidance (and eagle eyes! even from her hospital bed, she zeroed in on, and made sure I corrected, all the little imperfections!) Thanks to their tips and encouragements, I felt really inspired to start sewing more seriously. I also realized that there was no reason my sewing projects had to look like crap (they usually do look pretty unfinished and crooked and my machine screams in agony through the whole process) Turns out sewing machines need to be tuned and oiled! Who knew? Not me =)