Friday 24 October 2014

Kids Clothes Week: Pierre top


There once was a boy named Pierre
who only would say "I don't care!"
Read his story, my friend
For you'll find at the end
that a suitable moral lies there.

That, for those who don't know, is the prologue to Maurice Sendak's tiny book Pierre. Pierre is part of the Nutshell Library, a  collection of four miniature books (and the other three are pretty cool too). I had these books when I was growing up, and my sister bought a copy for my kids a few years ago.



Since Pierre is a favourite at our house, and since my son K shares some of Pierre's lack of respect for parental authority, I thought it would be appropriate to use Pierre's catchphrase on a top for him. Originally I was just going to use the words, but I thought they might seem a little less harsh if combined with Pierre's image - less 'ten-year-old ratbag' and more 'clever literary reference'. Those who find the phrase a little negative will be heartened to know that at the end of the story the moral is 'care' (but what would be the fun of putting that on a kids' top?).



While K is not short of attitude, I get plenty of smiles as well. And gosh he's a ham - most of the photos I got were of ridiculous faces and silly Michael Jackson-like crotch-grabbing dance moves.

Anyway, on to the details: the singlet is made from brushed cotton jersey and instead of ribbing I used a very stretchy cotton jersey in a different colour. I drafted the pattern based on one of K's tops and the sewing was very straightforward. I printed the image and text onto T-shirt transfer paper and ironed it onto the top. It seems to have adhered well but there are some slightly whitish bits that feel like they may be residue from the paper. Either they'll come off in the wash, or else I overcooked the whole thing and... well, I've never used these transfers before, so I'm a little scared to wash it and find out!

My next KCW project, which I will attempt to photograph tomorrow, is - coincidentally - also blue and green. Back very soon, I hope!

7 comments:

  1. Cool singlet! and hilarious photo shots of a handsome boy! :)

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  2. Oh bother, comment vanished.
    LOVE this book, how awesome to make a t shirt. The picture is instantly recognisable and totally saves it from being just a smart Alec quote on a t shirt.
    Hilarious and clever. We really should hang out!
    And i agree, he is a good looking kid

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    1. Oh thanks, I'm glad you think it's recognisable! So many people seem to have had childhoods of deprivation, growing up totally ignorant of the Nutshell Library. Very sad. And yes, let's hang out!

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  3. *love* the teeshirt, and your son's photos with it. I have a question, what do you mean by super stretchy knit instead of ribbing? I have hard time finding ribbing here, would you mind giving a few details of what you used in place of it? Would love to try something like this!

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    1. Thanks Asmita! I used a scrap of cotton jersey for the neckline and arms instead of ribbing, but it was a very stretchy one so perhaps it had a little lycra or something in it. Normally I would use ribbing but I watched Dana's t-shirt tutorial (danamadeit.com) and she said you could use knits instead if they had a good amount of stretch - so I decided if it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me!

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  4. Hahaha, this is fun! Especially the first picture. Nice tanktop.

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