Frankenpattern and Simplicity 2290 PJs

When I showed Logan the Mater interlock that I made his and Duncan's tee shirts out of, he was really excited about it. He's been a little lukewarm about Cars lately, so I was glad he was so pleased. He told me that he wanted a short sleeve shirt (check!) and jammies (uh oh.). I only had a yard of the interlock, and he actually prefers flannel PJs, so I put "Mater flannel" in the back of my mind and went on my merry way. Last week, I hit Joann for the yellow ribbing for Duncan's tee, and Logan found his flannel.

Yeah, I'm a sucker for that kid. He asks me for so little. Anyway, the patterns are the same ones I used to make his Thomas the Train PJs, which are his favorite.

I used some bright yellow buttons from the stash and stitched the buttonholes in yellow thread, just for fun. All of the other topstitching was done in dark blue.

When I showed them to him, he declared them "cool". Erg, when did my baby start saying, "cool"?? At least he still loves Mater jammies!

Butterick 3344

Me Made May has really gotten me thinking about the way that I sew, and the fact that while I have a ton of clothes, I don't have a ton of clothes that work together.  As a result, I've been trying to incorporate some basics into the things that I am sewing.  I think this top is a good example of success there!

Basic red top, but not completely boring.  It is made with OOP Butterick 3344, which is a really great basic tee  pattern if you can get your hands on it.  It has five different views and three sleeve variations, which makes for quite the tee wardrobe.  I also think the directions were mostly well written, particularly for a Big 4 knit pattern.  They even included instructions for staying the shoulder seam - color me impressed!  The fabric is an ITY from FFC, and I am so glad I got a ton of it when it was on sale!  It is so soft and drapes beautifully, but sewed up quite nicely.

I chose this view because I really like the shape, the v neck and the ruching at the bust.  Gathers are always a nice way to hide your FBA, and that is what I did here (much like the way that I did the FBA on the burda style top with similar bust gathers).  I did the ruching my own way though.  Butterick would have you gather that section with traditional gathering stitches and then stabilize with stay tape, but I wanted it to retain it's elasticity, so I gathered each side individually with clear elastic just inside the seamline and then sewed CF together while stretching the elastic so that it would still stretch when I was finished.  It seems to have worked well!

The other changes I made was to lengthen the top by 2 inches, which may have been a bit much, but I'm going to wear it around a bit and see if I want to shorten it.  Better too long than too short!!  I also shortened the sleeve by a couple of inches, as I prefer the look of a cap sleeve.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out, although it is a smidge longer than the traditional cap.

I am not entirely happy with the ripples down CF.  Do you think my FBA was too big, or is there something else going on there?  Opinions?