Finished Objects Friday

Joining Tami at Finished Object Friday...I sewed a blue shirt for Joaquin.  Plus, I thought I'd show you the lion costume I sewed for him (with a crocheted hat) as I didn't get it posted last week.

With Joaquin's big, beautiful eyes shining out at you from the first photo, it's a bit challenging to notice the shirt--isn't it?  I always get distracted looking at his eyes.  I do love the soft, cozy look of that shirt, though.  I used a pattern from April 2011 Ottobre Designs sewn in size 110.  I have admired their designs for a couple of years now and eagerly await each new volume.  But this was my first attempt at actually SEWING something.  I'm not alone in being intimidated about sewing with double-knit fabric, am I?  It doesn't stay put the way cotton does.  I used fabric from an Old Navy men's shirt that I bought at a thrift shop.  I like up-cycling because it's creative and the fabric is way less expensive than buying by the yard.  Another bonus was that I didn't have to hem it or sew in the cuffs--I just cut the pattern out to make use of the hem and cuffs that were already there.  I was too afraid to try machine-stitching the collar because I just knew it would look messy and terrible; so I had the idea of using the hand-stitched look from Alabama Chanin.  I learned of them from this lovely blog (she makes the most beautiful quilts and sells them in her etsy shop and donates the profits).  The photo of the stitch sampler is from the book.  The best part about the blue shirt is that Joaquin likes it!

The lion costume was from Butterick pattern 3238.  Joaquin and I picked out the fabric together.  Here is the ravelry project for the hat.  It was a quick and easy crochet project and he looked really cute in it.  He really wanted to be a lion this year, so I was really happy to make something that he liked.  The best part for him was the TAIL.  He loved that tail.

Also joining Wisdom Begins in WONDER!  Check out the really great, inspiring yarn!