Lion Raglan Tee for the Boy

Don't fall out of your chairs...its a BOY POST!   Yes, it has been soooo long.  Someone even commented on my blog in May or June and pleaded "don't forget the boys!" I haven't forgotten, but somehow sewing for the baby girl just ended up dominating my summer.  (And pssst: for a load of other fantastic sewing projects for boys, you can also check out the Celebrate the Boy posts from February 2010). 

I probably split myself about 50/50 when it comes to using a pattern or making one up.  But either way, I have always felt that it is important to have good, fail-proof patterns that you can use over and over again.  This is one of my new favorites.  I'm addicted actually.  It's the Tee for Two from Patterns by Figgy's.  UPDATED:  Here's a link to the Patterns By Figgy's shop where the patterns are sold.

This one is the third tee I've made with this pattern (the lion applique is my own addition), with a fourth in the works for E.  First I made a couple for C but like I said, there have been a ton of baby girl things on this blog lately so it's time for a little break.  Plus his hair is pretty glorious right now and I had to show it off.  Let's just be honest.

He's going to start preschool a couple mornings a week pretty soon, and I keep going back and forth about whether to cut his hair or not.  While I am all for respecting your child's wishes when it comes to hair (he says he doesn't want it cut), at the very least it needs a trim.  He's starting to look like a Wild Thing.  And he gets mistaken for a girl all the time, but we don't get too ruffled by that sort of thing.

OK but back to the pattern.  Here's a few things I loved about it:

• It's simple and quick. I am all for the fast project.
• I love the raw edges on the outside, which also makes the inside super-soft.
• It can be dressed up with appliques or freezer-paper stencils or whatever.  Love the blank slate when it comes to kids clothing.
• It comes with long-sleeves too.
• No hemming on the sleeves or bottom.  What's not to love about that?

In addition to all these things there's a gathered version for girls, although being so versatile this version is obviously a great a gender-neutral option too.

If you're nervous about sewing with knits, you may find this tutorial helpful.  But in fact I must admit to you that I did not use any of these things such as stabilizers and tacks and such, just put a stretch needle on my trusty Bernina and went to town.  I hate to say this because it really is the Beginner's Dilemma (when you're first starting you don't want to invest much in a machine), but I have found that my Bernina can tackle knits with very few issues whilst the cheapy Singer machine I bought right after college gets all loopy and jammed.  And so it goes.  

I'm a huge fan of the raglan style, especially for boys (raglans are shirts where the sleeve pieces go all the way up to the neckline instead of stopping at the shoulder). I made this one with the veggie stencils for E awhile back with this same orange fabric on the sleeves.  The one shown below I commissioned earlier this year from Karen of OneGirlCircus (she and Shelly of Figgy's Studio co-own Patterns By Figgy's).  I la-la-love these clouds and birds. If you want one of your very own you can also buy one ready-made here.  Heck I want one in my size.

Karen and Shelly also wrote this lovely tutorial on how to embellish knits over on Sew Mama Sew which is fantastic.  I used a slightly different double-sided interfacing but the idea is basically the same.  I also wanted the stitching to stand out, so I went with brown.  Which was ballsy I know so thank goodness it worked.

The lion looks a little tame and less ferocious than what I was going for.  To make up for it E has been roaring loudly all day.  So cute.  He's growing up too fast.  Waaaaaah!

OK, I'm not going to dwell on that, have a Happy Monday!

UPDATED for Full Disclosure: Since meeting in "real life" earlier this year, Karen and I have become friends and now have playdates with our kids every few weeks or so.  I guess that's just how life goes.   I actually didn't have the full pattern when I wrote this post since Karen had given me a computer printout taped together with masking tape precut to Elliot's size.  Since the writing of this post PBF's has very kindly given me a Tee for Two pattern so now I can at least claim to own a real copy.  Am I biased in writing this post? Absolutely. Does that mean this pattern is any less awesome?  I sure hope not!