Brayden's Shirt

One of my favourite projects for a client! This young gentleman is only one and a half years old. He was part of a bride's procession this past weekend, and of course he needed a neat formal shirt to wear for the occasion.

I thoroughly enjoyed sewing this shirt! His mom gave me an old buttoned shirt that fits him to use as a reference, and I drafted the rest of the pattern myself. To date, it is the smallest item I have ever made! It was like sewing an A4 sheet of paper with sleeves. And the first draft was even a tad too large!

The shirt is a single layer of thin cotton - you know, the stuff school shirts are made of. The sleeves are 3/4 length so that they could be folded up nicely. I originally did full length sleeves but the folded layers were too bulky. They're not sewn folded, just pressed. This means they can be adjusted to fit different lengths if desired.

The collar is a single piece of double layered fabric, unlike adult shirt collars that are two pieces. Apart from being a lot of finicky effort, it was really just unnecessary to do it in two pieces. I also made the neckline a bit wider than proportionally correct, with the idea that a bit of breathing room is preferable for young folk, but didn't think about the bowtie, so the collar gathers and ruffles a little bit.

Look at this spiffing young lad! I'm glad the fabric was soft so that it draped more comfortably than average and didn't irritate him. Is he not just the most adorable model ever?

#shirt #formal #boy #child