A brand new sew for my husband and a couple of repeats for my little boy, the latter of which I’ve kept brief, since I covered this pattern when I first made the Sunny Day Shorts here.

I hadn’t, on the other hand, made anything for my husband other than a pair of underpants and he was keen to reap the t-shirt-style rewards of me now having a serger. Oliver+S had a summer sale recently and so I picked up the family pack of t-shirt patterns, of which the Metro t-shirt was one. It seemed to me a solid t-shirt with some customisation possibilities later, but certainly one to use as a “template” for further makes – and so it proved to be.

Serged sems – so fast!

The pdf came together quickly – again, (like the Everyday Skirt) each piece was drafted onto the paper separately, which is such a nice way to put a pdf together. By far the longest part of this process was cutting out the fabric. Lordy, much as I love the feel of cutting into fabric, I really, really hate the lining it up and folding it part. It is so dull. It was fine at the studio I took a few lessons at as they had nice high tables with huge cutting mats, but it is a chore at home. And it doesn’t half get me back. Oocha.

Anywayyy, there are at least limited pieces. Front, back, two sleeves and a neckband, for which I used the same fabric. Fabric which, incidentally, was another $1/yard bargain from LA Finch Fabrics in their recent crazy sale. It’s a lovely soft rayon jersey with a little spandex and my husband likes the feel of it. I’m hoping it’s not going to droop too much during a day’s wear, but we’ll see. It was called the “Seattle Knit” and this is of course because of the colours. Now my hubbie is not a big “colours” person, but we moved here to Seattle a year ago, and we do go and watch the Sounders sometimes, so I figure it’s a nice subtle way to support the local team.

Fusible knit interfacing stabilised the shoulders

The t-shirt came together extremely quickly. First I added a couple of little strips of knit interfacing to stabilize the shoulders. Then the shoulders were serged, followed by the neckband, in the usual knit way (RST, pinned round, serged, and then flipped to the other side and pressed). I had never sewn on proper t-shirt sleeves, but the serger made short work of them, honestly. So much easier. The side seams were then sewn, followed by the hem and sleeves, which I decided to sew using the twin needle, since I liked the effect so much on the Adventure Tank I made a couple of weeks ago.

Sleeve finished with twin needle

My only mistake was to take a couple of tiny tucks when serging, but nothing too noticeable, and just a beginner’s error, really. Mr. Citadel loves the result and says the t-shirt is really comfortable. I should have mentioned: the only alteration I made was to add an inch on the length since he has a very long torso. The t-shirt looks somehow a little long now though! I’m going to reserve judgment until after a wash. Definitely a solid pattern – I can recommend it.

Second, I made a couple more pairs of the Sunny Day Shorts, also by Oliver + S, although this is a FREE pattern, if you didn’t know already. I really enjoyed making these last time and they’ve been worn a lot.

I made these in the 18-24 month size since Joe has grown a little recently (he’s 16 months though, so the pattern perhaps runs a little small). I’m not going to say too much more about them apart from that I made two pairs: one in a chambray with boats on it, and another in ladybird seersucker cotton. I also serged these, factory assembly style, and got them both pretty much finished during his nap (1.5hrs). Very fast! I do rather like the fell seam I used last time though and I think the chambray pair would look great with it, so may go back and add some detail.

A successful couple of days for my male household members! Now to go back and make some more stuff for ME! Heh heh. Bye for now!