Size Does Matter

A couple of weeks ago we went to a Cardinals baseball game. They were having a promotion that day, giving away a Matt Holliday replica jersey.

Isn't it nice?

We got to the stadium just as the doors were opening and waited in line to have our tickets scanned.  Just past the entrance there were people handing out the plastic-bagged jerseys.  There was no choice of sizes--you took an extra large or left empty handed. 

I liked the shirt, but it was way too big.  The shoulder seam hung at mid-bicep, the sleeve hem came down past my elbows, and there was about three inches of extra material on each side.  Rather than put the shirt straight into the donation pile I  decided to resize it to fit me.

I've done this before, so I was familiar with the process.  Last week I put a stained t-shirt in the rag pile.  Two days later I took it out and cut it into pieces to serve as a pattern.  Once I had the pattern pieces I removed the sleeves from the huge shirt and used the smaller ones to make them the right size.  The body of the smaller shirt bacame the template for the arm holes on the new one.  I purposely left the sides of the shirt alone, because I wasn't sure just how wide I wanted to make it.

It took me several tries to get the sleeves right; I almost got frustrated and chucked the whole thing out before they went smoothly into place.  After some thought I decided to angle the side seams so the bottom was the original width.  I can wear the shirt open and floppy, with a tank top underneath which will be cool in this hot weather.

The back of the right-sized shirt

Hubby Tony and I are headed to another game tomorrow.  I'll be wearing my new creation.

Five years ago today: New Thing #193--Wax On