I was determined to make something special for my son’s eighth birthday. Deciding what to make wasn’t all that difficult. My boy worships his father and he treasures anything that makes him feel closer to Daddy.

So, out of the big heap of Robert’s cast-offs, I picked a nice blue button down shirt and cut it up to make a minature version for Sam. But being who I am, I just couldn’t bring myself to make a plain old button down shirt–no, I had to do something more complicated (because the easy option is boring!). The curvy seams and pearl snaps of a western shirt appealed to me.

I found a nice pattern in the summer 3/2007 Ottobre.

It went together fairly easily–but not easily enough that I was done on time for his birthday! Still, the most challenging part was sewing the curvy seams so they didn’t pucker. I had to rip and redo a couple of times, but finally got it right.

Then, came the part where the project was less of a sewing project and more of a carpentry project: attaching the snaps. I was afraid I might crack the pearl faces if I banged on them too hard with the hammer, so tried the gentle approach the first time around. Naturally, they decided to fall out. The second time around, I whacked ‘em good and hard with the hammer and they’re now clinging to the shirt front for dear life.

Sam says he likes the shirt and will wear it (we’ll see about that…) but really wants a new fleece jacket and would wear that every day. I guess I better get right on that!

For every success, there’s a failure (or ten). I’ve made three muslins for this top and thought I had the fit right.

It’s close…but take a look at those armholes. Eek gad. They’re too low and really restrictive. Some of my Pattern Review cohorts suggested I make a petite adjustment through the shoulder area. I’ll have to give that a try with attempt number four.

This issue creeps up fairly regularly for me. Remember this t-shirt?

I’ll have to buckle down and figure out how to remedy this! It’s research time…