OUT Chapter 3: Jessica of Running with Scissors

We have a very dangerous guest today.  One that runs with scissors.  Yes, Jessica of Running with Scissors is here today to share some of her sweet boy's naughty acts ;).  Jessica makes sewing for a boy look like a whole lot of fun, like her Boy's Euro Swim trunks.  Aren't they so fantastic?  Or her dinosaur tails?  My girls aren't so much into dinosaurs, but you can bet I'll be making a whole dinosaur family's worth as soon as Drummer can walk.  I'm so pleased to have Jessica here today, sharing one of their favorite books.  Welcome, Jessica!

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I’m just thrilled to contribute for Once Upon A Thread!  

It’s been so fun and inspiring following previous chapters and these last two weeks.  I was ecstatic when Katy emailed me and I knew right away I wanted to share No David! by David Shannon. 

There’s a whole series of David books, all inspired by the author’s mom sending him a book he had written as a five-year-old. 

The only text in his childhood story was “no David” repeated on each page and drawings of himself doing things that made his mom say “No!” 

So he wrote another version as adult which portrays the antics common to most little boys.

I love this book because it’s funny and the illustrations really tell the story.  

The portrayal of David is childlike, wild, and his pointy teeth resemble my own son’s self portrait.

David wears the same signature outfit throughout the series: red jeans and a blue and white striped tee shirt.

His mom is shown with a green skirt and blue polka dot blouse. 

So I chose to recreate the clothes for us after my, RJ, kept pointing out “David shirts” when he’d notice any top with blue and white stripes. 

David’s shirt is pieced knit, and I used a pair of H&M jeans to make the pants from narrow red corduroy. Rather than using a polka dot print for the mom top, I made a blouse with old ivory drapery and added a dot texture to make the french knot blouse, to go along with the pleated pocket skirt.

So this is a story about a little boy and his mom and all the things he does that make his mom say “No!”

In the book, David gets into trouble on every page,
sneaking cookies….

dragging mud in the house…

and picking his nose.

My son, RJ, sometimes makes the same sad choices that David does, like not cleaning up his toys…

getting mad and earning a time out,

or jumping on the bed.

But RJ also makes some choices that make his mom say “No!” that weren’t in the book:

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Finally, there’s a page where David’s mom says Yes!
It’s the last page and despite all his sad choices, David’s mom says “Yes, I love you.”

We love this book and it’s a good opportunity to talk about good vs bad behavior and it’s really fun to follow David’s antics throughout the whole series.

For today I thought I’d quickly show you how to make the tee shirt with the pieced stripes.

I used knit yardage for the blue, and upcyled a men’s white t-shirt for the white strips, using the original hem on the men’s shirt for the body and sleeve hems (easy cheat!)

I used a serger to sew the entire tee shirt except  the neckline, but a stretch stitch on a regular machine would be great too.

For the body, I started with 4” wide strips and sewed them together into two (front and back) big stripe blocks.

From a big square block I used my son’s rashguard as a pattern to cut the sleeve holes, angled shoulder seams, and the curved neck.

At this point you can sew the front to back at the side seams and shoulder seams, making sure to match up your stripes as you sew.

The idea was the same with the sleeves, just sewing a stripe block and cutting out the sleeve shape.

This time I used 2.5” tall strips.

At this point you can sew the armpit seam on the sleeves and insert them into the shirt body.

For the neck I cut a 1.5” wide strip of blue, pressed it in half, then sewed raw edges touching around the neckline.

Then to finish it off, I top-stitched around the neck seam with a double needle to hold the seam allowance down.

Thanks for having us, we both had fun participating!

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I love that last photo.  How very clever to even make the mother's outfit, Jessica.  Thank you for being here today!