Blind zipper Otium with tumb holes

This shirt had to happen after I sewed my son this zipper Otium (pattern from Sofilantjes). My eldest immediately ordered one. My eldest two kids are almost the same size, only one centimeter difference around the chest and a few centimeter in length. I therefore planned to use the same pattern pieces as for my son, and just draw a small seam allowance (in Sofilantjes' patterns seam allowance is included, so normally you do not have to draw anything extra) . This short cut actually resulted in a much longer process than if I would have just started from sratch. A bit longer shirt also required a bit different diagonal line etc. I would like to say that I learned my lesson, but I fear I will try the same trick next time.

I had planned to sew this shirt last week, during Kids Clothes Week and due to the theme I planned a blind zipper (disguised pocket) instead of a visible one (and because I am incapable of just doing the same thing again).

Although I still buy fabric, I really try to use the older ones as well. I bought the green main fabric almost two years ago at Joyfits. Although it is a lovely quality, the fabric never got turned into a garment. I pulled it from the pile a few weeks ago and cut a pair of leggings from it. I had half a meter of fabric and for long I didn't wanted to cut half projects from such a length, because what would I do with the other half. This resulted in many fabrics just staying on the shelf, so I changed strategy (I just use what I need for a project and worry about the "scraps" later). After cutting the leggings the fabric stayed on top of the pile and like with this fabric I quickly saw a possibility to use the rest of it.

Combining the green main fabric with something was the biggest challenge, it is an interesting, retro type of green which doesn't match with many of the bright colors I have in my stash. The brown /broken white stripes matched perfectly though. Of course my daughter also requested thumb holes after this shirt.

My eldest is over the moon with the hidden zipper. She loves to show off her new clothes and I am sure that almost nobody will spot the zipper. To make it even less obvious I put the zipper pull at the bottom side this time. The zipper pull is brown and matches the brown stripes and birds nicely.

The last one is a bit blurry, but you will get the point, the book is in there. I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).