For Kevin

I bought this shirt quickly, not even looking at size, while Verity wreaked havoc on the rest of the charity shop.  She ended up with a Hannah Montannah guitar and microphone.  I ended up with this shirt, which is the perfect colour for Kevin (it totally matches his eyes.  My husband is so hot.)

However, when I got home, it didn't fit him very well:

(yes, that's Errol trying to hold hands as Kevin tries to look tough.  My men are so cute.)

The shirt was too small around the neck, fine in the shoulders, then too small in the chest and front.  Strangely, it was long enough in the arms, which doesn't happen very often.

I found a shirt that had a stripe of a similar colour, but was a "short fat man" shirt as Kevin calls them.  I stole the collar, and then took some of the fabric to make bowling stripes down the front and free up the chest a bit.  For some reason, the back had the pleats sewn down, so I un-picked those as well, giving a bit more room in the back.

Now we have a great fit in the front and back.  Most importantly, Kevin has a shirt that fills the office requirements of a collar, but manages to actually give him a bit of originality!

(I didn't notice before that he isn't smiling in any of the pictures.  I swear he's happy about it!)

Christmas Sewing Part 1 - Santa Suit

When I was a kid, we had a Santa suit that my grandmother had made.  My dad would wear it while he handed out gifts.  Good memories.

Of course, once I had my own family, I wanted our own Santa suit.

I bought one.  It was too small for Kevin, and there was no love sewn into it.  It turned into a battle whether Kevin would wear it at all.

This year, I decided to make a suit for Kevin.  

First things first: the pattern.  I got the Simplicity pattern, as it seemed to have more choice than the others I saw.

Then the fabric. In line with my determination to make as much from second-hand fabrics as possible, I got some velour curtains off ebay for £8:

They were a bit worn in places and had been poorly re-hemmed at some point, but that just adds character!

After a wash and an iron, I cut out the pattern for the long Santa jacket (I didn't have enough fabric for the short jacket and trousers).  I decided to line it with some satin I got online, and then decided to make Kevin some trousers for underneath the jacket out of the same fabric.  Finally, I got some trim and fake fur (Kevin requested fur that looked more like wool than soft fur, so that's what we got).

Some interim pics:

And the real test - Christmas itself!

The whole suit cost about £30, and looks awesome.  Totally worth it.