After my flop with my previous pattern I was visiting a local thrift shop and I ran across a pattern with a similiar look to my previous failure -except it was suppose to be easier??? Yea - Right? But it was only a quarter so I decided to take a leap of faith and take it to Lynne to get her opinion on it. She did study it and agreed that it would be a much easier put together.

The pale green on the left was my first attempt and I had picked up a fabric on a discount bin at a Jo-Ann's to experiment on as I liked the way the fabric had "give" to it. I believed that it would make it more comfortable to wear -IF - it would give as you moved? The pattern was much easier because you just inserted a band inside all the way around the front edges and folded it to the inside and - yipee- you were almost finished - except Those Buttons once again. Buttons still terrify me because IF you mess up on your buttons - your whole project is down the tube. Let's just say -"I got lucky" . I have a girlfriend that I was dieing to make one of these shirts for because she has been an angel to me and she dropped by one day and I asked her if she would mind to try the shirt on for me so I could get a feel for sizes on different body types. When she slide the shirt on - it fit her like a glove and I was amazed. One thing I learned was that we were not the same size as I had belived and I do love learning something new. It would be nice If I were not so dumb, but I have to learn everything the hard way . I had never noticed that her arms were longer than mine and it made the sleeves 3/4 length on her, but she said all the store-bought shirts fit her that way ! I went ahead and completed the project and embroidered a "Celtic " design for her that Christmas. It turned out that she loved the shirt and I was so honored. So, this year I decided to try once again , except this time I have added the three inches length to the sleeves and again I got lucky and found a piece of fabric that again has that "give" to it that I really enjoy. I have a sneaky feeling that it is some kind of latex, but since I find fabrics that have no labels it is a hard education -when you can only go by feel. I am also sticking close to earth colors since she loves that. She is definitely not a flamboyant person, but she is a strong personality that I love with all my heart. When God sends friends into our lives he only picks the very best .