{"id":10128,"date":"2010-12-09T23:15:49","date_gmt":"2010-12-10T04:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=10128"},"modified":"2012-04-15T00:39:01","modified_gmt":"2012-04-15T04:39:01","slug":"mouse-king-shirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/09\/mouse-king-shirt\/","title":{"rendered":"Mouse King Shirt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Alastair’s Christmas outfit is almost finished.\u00c2\u00a0 The pattern is Ginger Snaps<\/a> Hudson’s Sundy Suit<\/em>,\u00c2\u00a0 with side vents. Few little guys can keep their\u00c2\u00a0shirts tucked in so this pattern offers a nice solution to that problem.<\/p>\n

Paired with the shirt are black velveteen short pants with straps that should\u00c2\u00a0hold the ruthless Mouse King\u00c2\u00a0securely in place.\u00c2\u00a0But if the shirt still fits Alastair next year, it’s nice to give him the option\u00c2\u00a0of wearing it without tucking.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Like Cousin Robert’s shirt<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0 the fabric is Martha’s Favorite Linen.\u00c2\u00a0 This is not my favorite linen, but it is just right for the boys’ shirts.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Black piping trims the collar, which is embellished with a Brother Duetta decorative stitch which I call barbed wire.\u00c2\u00a0 Aside from\u00c2\u00a0complimenting the masculine nature of the garment,\u00c2\u00a0the stitching\u00c2\u00a0hides the shadow of the black piping’s seam allowance.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The same stitch secures the mock cuff on the sleeves.<\/p>\n

The Mouse King embroidery was part of the Nutcracker Motifs<\/em> collection from A Bit of Stitch,\u00c2\u00a0 though the greenery\u00c2\u00a0below\u00c2\u00a0the king’s\u00c2\u00a0boots is\u00c2\u00a0from some other collection that I cannot recall.\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0The pine spray\u00c2\u00a0was added because, personally, I prefer standing figures to be standing on something<\/em>,\u00c2\u00a0even a fallen branch.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter that the standing figure is a wicked magical mouse (certainly unrelated to Mickey).<\/p>\n

The other two cousin outfits are embroidered with designs from this same set–Laurel’s pinafore bib with the Sugar Plum Fairy (see post Christmas Dress\u00c2\u00a0’10<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Robert’s shirt with The Nutcracker himself.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve found that\u00c2\u00a0 coordinating outfits are more likely to look like a matched set if the designs are\u00c2\u00a0 from the same collection or at least done by the same designer.\u00c2\u00a0 And in this case, the black velveteen worn by each child will\u00c2\u00a0aid in\u00c2\u00a0tying them together.<\/p>\n

I am really eager to finish the pants, which are all done except for the buttons and buttonholes.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I had to mail order from my favorite on-line shop, Farmhouse Fabrics <\/a>to get the abalone buttons that I think will be perfect.\u00c2\u00a0 They should arrive in two or three days.\u00c2\u00a0 Farmhouse ships very promptly, usually the same day the order is placed. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can see from the pants pattern, buttons play a prominent roll in the unique, vintage look.\u00c2\u00a0 The pattern is from Martha Pullen’s book, Sewing for Jack and Jill.<\/p>\n

As always, I learned a lot while making this shirt. One lesson was to limit my serger use to play clothes and knits.\u00c2\u00a0 For some time now, I have\u00c2\u00a0 felt guilty for\u00c2\u00a0my limited use of my serger.\u00c2\u00a0 So I decided to\u00c2\u00a0put it to work finishing the seams.<\/p>\n

I was very dissatisfied and wish I had just used traditional French seams.\u00c2\u00a0 In my humble and\u00c2\u00a0certainly outdated opinion, using a serger on an heirloom garment is like using a broom to\u00c2\u00a0paint the Sistine Chapel.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It just doesn’t sit right with me.<\/p>\n

Another lesson that was learned, not\u00c2\u00a0anew but reinforced, is to think through the entire project before putting scissors or needle to fabric.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My original plan was to make standard button-on pants.\u00c2\u00a0 But when these V-front pants in Jack and Jill <\/em>\u00c2\u00a0jumped out at me, I was enchanted and changed my plan.<\/p>\n

However, \u00c2\u00a0I had not\u00c2\u00a0altered my vision of the\u00c2\u00a0shirt and pants together. \u00c2\u00a0 I had had every intention of running black lace tape vertically on either side of the\u00c2\u00a0Mouse King\u00c2\u00a0embroidery, as I had done on Robert’s shirt.\u00c2\u00a0 But a moment before I\u00c2\u00a0 began stitching the lace tape down, a picture of the pants, with their diagonal straps running beside the lace tape made popped into my head and stopped me dead in my tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 Alastair would have looked like a disoriented jail bird with all those nonparallel black stripes running up his chest!<\/p>\n

Of course, this same vision put the barbed wire stitching along the back facings on hold as well.\u00c2\u00a0 It just would be\u00c2\u00a0 too much stuff in too small a space.\u00c2\u00a0 Alastair is an average sized 20 month-old boy.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0His little body\u00c2\u00a0simply\u00c2\u00a0could not have absorbed all that visual\u00c2\u00a0activity without repercussions of viewer astigmatism.\u00c2\u00a0 So now, the pants are put aside and I am moving on to the next project while awaiting delivery of the buttons.<\/p>\n

I wish I had embroidered the Mouse King closer to the collar.\u00c2\u00a0 Of course, that was not a concern when I planned straight waisted button-on pants.\u00c2\u00a0 But now I worry that\u00c2\u00a0the figure\u00c2\u00a0was placed too low for the Plan B high rise pants and might be covered in velveteen, at least partially.\u00c2\u00a0 This fear remains either to be realized or put to rest until the suit is fitted to Alastair to determine just how long the straps will be.\u00c2\u00a0No one said sewing would be stress free.<\/p>\n

I hope your holiday\u00c2\u00a0creations are coming right along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alastair’s Christmas outfit is almost finished.\u00c2\u00a0 The pattern is Ginger Snaps Hudson’s Sundy Suit,\u00c2\u00a0 with side vents. Few little guys can keep their\u00c2\u00a0shirts tucked in so this pattern offers a nice solution to that problem. Paired with the shirt are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,28,43,18,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10128"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10128"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10469,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10128\/revisions\/10469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}