HOW expensive are goalposts?

Even though they were half price, they still cost quite a lot, so it meant No.3 Son would only have one present to open on his birthday.

Don’t get me wrong, I know one present is adequate but it’s always nice to see a little pile of gifts wrapped up with your name on. I managed to buy three secondhand children’s novels and wondered if I could make something for him as well. 

He finished these long shorts earlier in the week and decided that the best T-shirt to go with it was this red one with a picture of a camper van on the front.

Hmm, two different shades of red do not an outfit make.

Rummaging through my fabrics, I found a length of turquoise jersey left over from making this sample Coco for my stand at the school fair.

There was just enough for a boy’s T-shirt using this pattern from issue 27 of Love Sewing magazine.

I wouldn’t download and print off a pattern for anything larger, but this was just nine sheets of paper which taped together very quickly.

My French curve came in handy for grading the pattern up to Age 9.

Just three pattern pieces meant this promised to be a quick enough make to complete in the couple of hours before he came home from school.

Some remnants of blind fabric provided the perfect motif to add to the front of the T-shirt and I picked the red one to echo the colour of the shorts they were to go with.

After stabilising with some interfacing, the free motion foot made short work of the appliqué – I sewed two rounds of stitching.

Embroidery scissors were used to cut close to the stitching and remove the excess fabric to reveal the motif.

The finished appliqué.

Maybe it would have been better to place it a little higher on the chest?

Full construction details, and the free pattern, can be found in issue 27 of Love Sewing, so I won’t repeat them here. 

Suffice to say that it was quick, easy and fun to make and the finish was faultless, though I say so myself!

The overlocker (all four threads) was used exclusively for the construction, with top stitching done on the sewing machine.

Apart from the white overlock thread.  It was all I had.

I also didn’t have the requisite ribbed jersey for the neckband, but more of the fabric that I used for the body of the T-shirt worked just as well.

A slight zig zag stitch was used for the top stitching around the neckline, both for decoration and to keep the neckline lying flat.

A straightforward one centimetre hem on the bottom and sleeve hems was the final touch to bring the project in under two hours.

All wrapped up and ready to open – a free extra present for one little nine year old boy!

At precisely 4.51am, a very excited little boy bounded into our bedroom….and was sent back to bed for an hour and a half. I know. We’re mean parents.

At 6.30, Take Two. He woke up everyone in the house (No.1 Son ended up going into work early!) and we all went down to watch him unwrap his presents.

First, his T-shirt….

….then Star Wars masks and light sabres from his oldest brother….

As for the T-shirt….well, it stayed clean for all of five minutes….