It's a Mario!

Completed September 2020.

It’s a he! And all of his go-kart buddies!

Here’s my first serious foray into shirt making, and I think I did pretty well. More importantly, making shirts is fun and easier than I thought it would be. Thorough yet straightforward construction is the best combination for satisfactory projects.

This fabric was from a line of licensed Mario fabric from Joann that I was lucky enough to snag on sale in 2016 or 17. It’s mid-weight quilting cotton and it’s probably not the best for making apparel, but I didn’t care when I got it specifically to make this dress.

I made the shirt from leftover fabric years after I finished the dress. I had some regrets of using a quilting weight fabric for clothes, but I figured a loose-fitting shirt would be a lot more comfortable than a snug, fitted bodice. And, the print is far too cute to be left unused.

Having used a lot for the dress, scarcity was a huge concern of mine because of the pattern-matching on the front. I knew I wasn’t going to bother with the back or the sleeves so I was very determined to execute it where it counted. My first attempt at matching... failed. I cut one piece and folded over the button placket first so I could use it to figure out how I would cut my right piece, but when I did, I miscalculated somewhere and my two pieces together very obviously did not make a continuous pattern. I wanted to re-cut the right side but I didn’t have enough fabric left to make a repeating pattern as I was about an inch short. HISSSSSSSSSSS

A pattern-matched pocket almost gets lost in a such a bold print.

I briefly considered harvesting extra fabric from the dress, hanging there, unwearable for myself but still fine for someone else potentially, before I settled on this wack solution: cut out just barely enough for the visible part of the shirt, being extra mindful of the pattern placement, and "glue" on extra fabric as needed using fusible interfacing. Then I ran a tiny zig-zag stitch on the very edge of the fold to secure the Mario-interfacing-Mario sandwiched layers together in case the adhesive ever wears out in the future. For all my bullshit, it worked! Not an optimal way to sew but I think I was just relieved that I hadn’t cut the remaining half incorrectly again, so I didn’t dare complain about anything else.

Trying to visually demonstrate how I did this.

The rest of the shirt came together relatively easily with the most finnicky part being the collar stand. Thankfully I learned to do it this way instead of the sewing the entire collar and stand to the neckline in one go. I finished the side seams and armholes with my overlocker which are basically the only areas on a garment I use it for. I'm still getting used to having one because after this shirt, I went through a period of not being able to get it to work because of tension issues. They're solved now, though! Remember to "floss" your threads in your tension knobs, kids.

Couldn't center my buttons because of pattern matching issues.

Bias tape hem AND overlocked seams.

It's pretty comfortable considering the quality and coarse weave. I'm just hoping I can wear it in public in places that aren't a fan convention. It's bold and nerdy but from a distance I think it looks wearable.