I sew for my kids a lot, and I really love taking their requests into consideration and making them things that they really want. But sometimes I miss the mark completely. This tee is not an American Flag and this blog post is the story of how I completely misunderstood my child’s handmade garment request.
A few years ago Buddy asked me if I could please make him a t-shirt with red and blue and white and lots of stripes. I got really excited because Buddy doesn’t usually ask me to make him things that aren’t track pants or sweat shirts and this colour combo sounded gorgeous. I had the perfect blue and white striped fabric in my stash, as well as some red ribbing and scraps of red jersey.
I used the Mini Briar pattern which i cut in his size. To make it a bit more boy appropriate i simply straightened the hemline at the hip. I somewhat matched the stripes, but they’re really not properly matched at all. I really loved how the red ribbing popped with the red pocket, and decided to use some red thread as the topstitching.
However when I excitedly showed this tee to Buddy he looked confused. I told him it was the tee he had asked me for, to which he replied: That’s not an American flag! Oh dear.
And that’s when I realised my mistake. Thankfully Buddy is a super sweet kid, and loved it all the same.
The nice thing about Mini Briar is that as it is designed to be a bit oversized to grow with your child it actually still fits Buddy! I sewed this tee 2.5 years ago, and these photos were taken when Bud was 9. He is now 11 and has grown and grown and grown, and this tee still fits really nicely, though it is a lot closer fitting. Nothing makes me happier than knowing my kids are enjoying things I made for them and that they got a lot of use out of their handmade wardrobes. Even when I have misunderstood their requests.
Though Buddy is also a cheeky kiddo with a great sense of humour, and every now and then he likes to remind me that this tee is not an American flag hehe.
