Birthday T-shirt

My little guy is turning one next week and I wanted to make him a shirt to wear for his party but didn't want it to scream "wearable only on your birthday".  Luckily I received a BabyCenter e-mail with different shirts you could buy at various places and this shirt was in their round up.  I fell in love immediately and, of course, pinned it! :)

What I like most is how nice and basic the design is, wearable long after the cake is eaten! :)  I originally planned to just buy a navy t-shirt and go the easy route, but I couldn't find a plain navy shirt in his size anywhere, and I couldn't find any navy fabric in town that was the right shade either! In the end I bought a XL men's shirt at Target used that.   I have been planning to buy Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee pattern and this seemed like a good reason, and I used that.   Let me just say the pattern is fantastic!  Very easy to follow and makes a very professional looking t-shirt. I will be getting plenty of use from this pattern!  

I pricked out the neckband and reused that so I only needed the shirt which I got for $5.  The orange fabric was some scrap Robert Kaufman Laguna Knit.  I used freezer paper (which if you haven't done before, try it) to make the stencil for the lettering, only using one application of paint.  I wanted it to look a bit faded.  It did get slightly off-centered but I kind of like it and you don't notice it when he's wearing it.  This was an easy naptime project which turned out just as I envisioned.  Don't you love when that happens?

It's been a fun first year and I'm looking forward to all the fun things to come...walking, talking, more playing with big sister, and of course more trouble! :)