Soccer Goals and Fishing Poles

DS #2 got his summer pj's today.  I acquired both quilting cottons for the shorts locally.  DS picked out the soccer one and I loved the fish one.  I bought a packet of 6 large men's T-shirts from Costco to pilfer the white cotton knit for these smaller T-shirts.  I can get 4 smaller shirts, that are on grain, out of the packet and each one comes to $4.00.  I like the weight and quality of the cotton, and I only feel a little guilty cutting up perfectly good T-shirts to repurpose. I'm not sure if this is more economical than buying a high quality cotton knit fabric, but I think it is close, since I would have to buy it online and possibly pay shipping.   I had the white ribbing in my stash for the neckband.    I used Kwik Sew 3234 for the T-shirt and Kwik Sew 3042 for the shorts.  Both are a size medium (7-8).  Kwik Sew has very easy instructions and great basic designs for kids.

I altered the shorts by taking one inch off the top of the front and back pieces.  Otherwise, I find the crotch too low.  I used one inch wide elastic for the waist rather than 1.5", which is what the pattern calls for.  On the T-shirt I cut 2 inches off the hem, because I found it to be too long.  I do hope DS #2 doesn't sprout up too fast this summer, because right now it's a perfect fit.  I did all my hems and neckband topstitching with my coverstitch machine.  I made the star and rectangle applique by using a template in Microsoft Paint.  I fused the appliques to the T-shirt before I did the satin stitch around the edge.  This helps stabilize it while stitching.  DS loves them both, but only wanted to model one pair.  I can go with that.