Benjamin might not be - he's suddenly shot up, all in the upper body, it seems! Every time he lifts his arms his midriff is quite...chilly. Which means sewing, of course. He's very pleased with his new sweater, hopefully one that will do for Sundays this fall/winter.
I bought a soft Tommy Hilfiger men's XL v-neck sweater for $0.50 at a thrift sale this spring (of course forgot to take a before photo... sorry). The pattern I used is a basic long-sleeve shirt pattern from Ottobre Design magazine: #34 Mr. Bear from Winter 6/2013. I cut size 110 with a length of 122 for my long-torsoed son.
I started by cutting the front on the fold, guessing at where the v-neck should be, as the pattern is a crew neck. From there I cut the back, matching the stripes at the sides. So the only part I had to sew the neck ribbing on was the back neck.
Then I cut the sleeves, trying to line up the stripes to the sleeve openings. Not the best success there because I wanted to re-use the knitted-on cuffs.
I topstitched the ribbing at the back neck edge to keep it lying flat. Looks pretty similar to the front.
So it was pretty simple to put together - the last thing was the hem ribbing, which I sewed back on after I had the right length in the top. He's very pleased with his warm new sweater!
The other shirt I completed last week is a simple raglan style shirt, using the pattern Streamline Tee by Terra's Treasures, size 7. Goes together so fast!
The fabric is a poly-cotton blend french terry I got on clearance for $2.50/m a bit ago, plus a bit of brown cotton interlock for neckline binding. I left off the cuff and just hemmed the sleeves at about 3/4" and it's perfect for him.
So two shirts down and he's very thrilled! I like quick projects like this. :)
