Lumberbaby

Back when Above Average Toddler was just a wee Above Average Infant, I got really into sewing but I hadn't built up my fabric stash yet. That meant I had no choice but to rifle through the clothing donation/throw out box for some raw material.

AAH (above average husband) has pointy elbows and is always poking them through his shirts, so there were a bunch of flannel lumberjack shirts that he couldn't wear in polite company anymore due to the elbows, but that were otherwise in fine shape. I figured I'd make an adorably small version for our adorable offspring.

I went looking through my pics to see if I could find a pic of the hubs wearing the shirt, but for some reason, despite the fact that he wore this shirt quite a lot I cannot find one.

Here's a male model in a similar shirt. Just imagine my husband's handsome face instead of that ugly mug:

Wait, what am I saying? No need to imagine when we have Photoshop:

I had also recently just purchased my new sewing machine. After years of using my mom's old janky non-computerized model, I finally splurged on a machine that actually worked without sounding like it was going to explode any second or encapsulate the entire world in tangled thread.

So because I just got the new sewing machine I was all fired up to try the fancy computerized stitches. This was way pre-blog -- let's say about a year and a half ago -- so I didn't document the process at all. I'll try to do my undergraduate degree in writing justice by being as descriptive as possible.

Step 1:
Using another shirt as a guide, I traced the appropriate width of the baby shirt at the top middle of the adult man shirt. This enabled me to keep the front buttons and collar of the original shirt.

Step 2:
Cut out the right length sleeves, using the baby shirt guide, from the lower wrist area of the original shirt. I eventually had to shorten these even more, which explains the creative cuffing. I made puffy sleeves purely so the existing cut sleeve would fit in the armhole I had cut.

Step 3:
Fix the collar so it wasn't enormous. That explains the little decorative stitch you see on the back that covers up the seam.

Step 4: Add some lace to the bottom, to add a little girl power.

Step 5: Add decorative stitching all over because new sewing machines are fun.

Done!

We then paraded our little lumberbaby around town wearing her shirt. Here she is wearing it at a 5-year old's birthday party. Apparently kindergarten is when firetruck interest peaks.

And below she models lumber-couture in the northern climes we inhabited at the time:

 There you have it. Upcycling at its finest!