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Apr 15, 2020

Happiness is a Peanuts Shirt - PART 1


Greetings, readers, from my home quarantine to yours!

Two weeks ago I purchased three yards of this Peanuts quilting cotton.  It's called "The Gang's All Here Toss" -- toss referring to the fact that the beloved Peanuts characters are scrambled all over the fabric in a seemingly random pattern.  It's by Springs Creative and can be found online pretty easily (it's originally from 2019).  I was particularly drawn to it since teal is a good color for me, and, of course, I love all the Peanuts characters, who were a big part of my childhood.  I even played Snoopy in my high school production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."

Somebody left out an apostrophe, but what can you do?

Since it's kind of an overwhelming pattern, I thought I might use a contrast solid for the inside collar and cuffs.  Also on eBay, I found someone selling a fabric lot of polka dot scraps in many different colors, which I purchased.  I could see a lot of the colors working with the fabric but in the end I narrowed it down to the black (second from the left, bottom row) and the brown (upper row, far right).


I started on the collar to see how it would look with the contrast fabrics.  I ended up choosing the black (which after laundering, actually turned out to be a very, very deep brown).

The brown with the larger polka dots.
The black (which laundered to a very, very dark brown) next to the original brown.

This also made the choice of topstitching thread easier: I chose black from among the many possibilities in my thread stash.


Here's the finished collar.  I know, it looks like it's cut upside down but this is how the characters landed in the toss.  I was going to recut it until I realized that on the finished shirt, with all the characters scrambled every which way, it's going to look just fine (you'll see).




Next I made my cuffs, also with the black(ish) polka dot contrast fabric and the black topstitching thread.


Next, I worked on my sleeve plackets.  Normally I'm not a huge fan of black topstitching (it's very unforgiving) but it looks fine here; there's a lot of black in the print.


I managed to get most of the shirt done today.  I still have to make buttonholes, add buttons, and hem and I may add a breast pocket.  That's for tomorrow.





And that's it!  This shirt is very cheerful looking and cheerful is what we can use a lot of these days.  Maybe I can even convince Michael to do an outdoor photoshoot.  Dare I whip up a matching mask?

Have a great day, everybody, and stay healthy!


21 comments:

  1. What a fun happy shirt. It puts a smile on my face! Your top stitching skills are impeccable as usual! Matching face mask would be soooo cool! Stay well.

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  2. This reads so high end. You are one of those people who could go to JoAnn's (apostrophe for you), and turn their merchandise into something spectacular.

    [EPIPHANY MOMENT - punctuated by a slack jaw with just-put-the-pieces-together audible inhale]

    No wonder you two are friends!

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  3. Wow! Fab shirt - I envy your ability to sew your own clothes - I do patchwork and quilting and hopeless at clothing! My mother made my clothes and I chose a simple pattern for my daughter. It wasn't simple and my mother-in-law completed it! Oh the shame! LOL.
    Love the fabric - and laughed at the AWOL apostrophe! Still love Pig Pen! The dirt showering all over the place!
    Take care and stay safe
    xx

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  4. I love the fabric and I think your shirt looks fab!

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  5. That is great fabric for a shirt and you clearly picked the correct contrast fabric. I wish I could convince myself to sew a shirt. I always fear it will be a huge waste of fabric.

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  6. What a fun shirt to wear and I love the pictures you posted. Thank you for sharing it.

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  7. What pattern do you use for your shirt-making? I know you've mentioned it before and since I wear the same size, I would like to find it. Thanks, an as usual a great job!

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    Replies
    1. Freedom rider, tell us true, what does the free-est of characters do?

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    2. Hi, Jules. For this one I used vintage Butterick 4575 with a few minor modifications (a more contemporary-looking collar). It's a pretty good pattern for a men's fitted shirt.

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    3. Thanks! I'm going to head on over to Etsy and see what I can find.

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    4. Hey Test! I'm savoring every day of my freedom trust me! LOL!!

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  8. Love your shirt and your very mad sewing skills, I am always impressed when I see your creations on the blog...Thanks again for sharing, you bring a smile to my face.Abby

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  9. That's some beautiful work! A matching mask would suit well too. Would you have a tutorial or something like that where you show how you put together the cuffs?

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    Replies
    1. I think I explain it here:

      https://malepatternboldness.blogspot.com/2014/05/paisley-shirt-cuffs-and-collar.html

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    2. Also here, but you'd need to sign up for a Threads trial:

      https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2018/04/04/guide-sewing-professional-shirt-cuffs

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  10. Everytime I catch a Male Pattern Boldness post on Bloglovin I do a happy dance. Always a joy... and The Peanuts Gang shirt is a beautiful piece of hand work. Wear it with joy!

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  11. Could you explain your technique for attaching the collar/stand unit, as well as your cuffs? Thanks!

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