Weekend Project: Care Package on its Way

Those who are absent, by its means become present: mail is the consolation of life.

-Voltaire

I finished the Hawaiian shirts for my friend, and dropped them off at the post office today. You may remember that my friend has cancer, and I made him these shirts because I have heard that they are good tops to wear during chemotherapy - casual, comfortable and cheerful, with easy access to the chemo port.

I selected the patriotic fabric, because he recently (within the last year or so) became an American citizen.

I selected the airplane fabric, because he loves planes and is a licensed pilot of small planes.

Here is the pattern I used - it is one of my tried-n-true (TNT) favorites.

This is an excellent pattern for a beginner! It provides a very simple introduction to shirts. There are only 5 pattern pieces - front, back, collar, sleeve and pocket. It does not have a yoke and it only has a one piece collar (no separate collar stand). The sleeves are symmetrical, so there's no danger of putting them in backwards.

I really should move up to a slightly more sophisticated pattern for men's shirts, but I keep coming back to this one! ;)

I am almost done with my next installment of the "How Much Fabric?" Series - it will be on jackets. (Dresses and tops are waiting in the wings.) Thank you to everyone for your encouragment with this effort! I am hoping to get my final tables printed onto small cards, with the minimum, maximum and average patterns illustrated on the back - if I can make it work, I'll make those available.

I hope you had a good sewing weekend! :)