Monogramed shirt for Baby Z

A little while ago I posted about this set I made for a baby shower. Well, on Thursday morning my friend delivered a beautiful baby boy. Eeeee!!! I'm off to meet him in an hour and cannot wait.

He arrived a little early and I was completely unprepared with a present (especially as I didn't know his gender before he was born). But I knew I really wanted to bring something to the hospital, so I pulled out my well-used Sketchbook Shirt pattern from Oliver + S. I have made this four times now and it gets easier every time.

I didn't have time to go fabric shopping, so I used some blue and white seersucker from my stash. I was very tempted to use one of the many cutesy boyish prints I own, but I think the stripes work better for this shirt, especially as it is sized 12-18 months (for next Summer). In any case this little man is going to get a zillion gifts from me over the coming months so I can use some of the cuter fabric for those.

I have never sewed with a narrow stripe before and it was challenging. It shows up every little mistake. You have to be so precise with your cutting and that is hard with seersucker!

I knew I wanted to personalise the shirt, but didn't know how. I thought about an embroidered pocket like I did here but that wouldn't really work on the seersucker. I eventually decided to play around with the stripes and applique a 'Z' monogram (first letter of his name) using horizontal stripes on the vertical pocket. I'm really happy with it. It's kind of subtle, but funky. My husband thinks I should have stitched it on using navy thread... I'm undecided. It would have made it stand out more, but I kind of like it the way it is.

I used navy snaps instead of buttons - I didn't have anything appropriate in my button box.

Time to grab some lunch and then get to the hospital. Can't wait to meet you Baby Z!


Finished shirt. Size 12-18 months.


Monogramed pocket detail.


Close up. I picked a font I liked on the computer, enlarged it and flipped it. Then I traced in directly from the screen onto some vliesofix. After ironing it onto the fabric I cut around the Z.


The back. The yoke is cut across the grain. I thought about chevroning it but I only had a few hours to make this shirt, so decided not to.