The biggest gap I found was in simple tank tops. At the end of last summer J decided that he really liked wearing tank tops so I made him one out of some really slinky knit material that I had on hand. He loved that top - so much so it's already all worn out, so I figured I should make him some new ones.
Since he was already outgrowing the last tank top I made, and I wasn't totally happy with that pattern I decided to do a quick online search and see if I could find a ready made pattern rather than make my own. What I found was a boys tank top pattern by iCandy Handmade. This pattern is for a boy size 6-7. Whilst J is only 7 he quite often wears a size 8 so I compared the pattern to one of his shirts that still fitted and it seemed to be fine. I did change the shape of the armhole just a smidge though, I felt like the shoulders were just a touch too narrow. I'm glad I did cause evern now they're a bit narrow.
I ended up making three tank tops for him. Each top was sewed almost entirely on the serger and finished using ribbing which was doubled over then serged on to the neckline and arm holes to create a small band.
The first shirt was made with the original material, a lightweight blue on blue stripe knit, with black ribbing for the neck and arms. I was running out of the striped material though, so the front is striped horizontally and the back is striped vertically.
The second is a plain blue with black bands.
The third I added a yoke to back and front. The yoke is from an old neon yellow T shirt of my husbands, and the bottom is a grey lightweight knit. The neckband and arms are finished with the same neon yellow. (and yes the hem is finished with blue thread because I couldn't be bothered changing the machine around - are you seeing a pattern here - I'm a very lazy sewer).
I figured that L could use some new tank tops as well so after having her try on J's shirts I used the same pattern to make her a top as well. Hers is neon orange with purple finishing bands.
(What's that - blue thread on orange fabric - yeah that's fine)
When searching for tank top patterns I found another free pattern that I liked. The Racerback Dress by crafterhours. Now L does not wear dresses, but I figured that this would be easy enough to cut off into shirt length so I printed out the pattern. It only goes up to size 8 and L generally wears a size 10, but I compared the pattern with the pattern I used for the other tank tops and just had to add about 3/8" to 1/2" to the centerline of each pattern - there seems to be plenty of ease in that pattern with the gathers. L chose to get this top made up in the navy blue with bright orange neck and arm bands. I decided that I would also use the bright orange for the back yoke piece. I quite like the way this turned out. We'll see how much wear it gets.
Last but not least, J needed new shorts. He has had in his closet for almost a year now, a couple of black bandannas with white decoration that he wanted me to make into shorts for him. It's not great fabric, some sort of nylon and quite thin, but I figured it'd be fine for play shorts, so I used his pants pattern to whip up a quick pair of shorts. I did add pockets in, but very basically. I just attached the back pocket piece directly to the front of the pants so no pocket bag is needed. I used the existing finishing from the bandanna to finish the bottom of the shorts and used some red rib knit material to make a waistband and 1" wide elastic. Hopefully they will last for more than one wear but if they don't oh well.
And I think that that's it for the kids. Hopefully they are good for a while.
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