The Kindergarten Blues Shirt

 

I was inspired by an art project I taught my kindergarten students recently.  My little five year old artists learned that a tint is created when white is added to a color and a shade is created when black is added.  Obviously, we experimented with tints and shades using the color blue.  I love blue.

We also collaged all sorts of blue things on our blue paintings while listening to the blues.  The finished paintings were really beautiful.   I was reminded of a quote that I read somewhere (and I can't remember where now) that what kids know about art, grown artists struggle to find.  It's so true.  I'm often in awe of the art they create.  I mounted the blue paintings on orange paper and hung them out in the hallway.  When I went home, sitting right on top of my fabric stash was a blue polka dot shirting and a bright orange broadcloth.  Off to the side was a little scrap of stripey orange vintage fabric I found at Goodwill.  I knew I had to combine the three.

I decided I wanted to make a shirt- in fact, a shirt I could wear to work.  I chose Vogue 7700 because I love the detail at the back on version C.  And it kind of reminds me of a smock.  Perfect for an art room.

The polka dot shirting is a cotton blend.   I used an orange broadcloth for the collar band and the vintage stripey scrap of fabric for the yoke facing.  All of the top stitching is done with bright orange thread.  The buttons are a light peachy color, though I used two bright orange buttons on the cuffs.  (I ended up unpicking and replacing the button placket in case you were wondering about my earlier fiasco.)   I took time to do everything right.  I'm really proud of the craftsmanship.  I even tried blockfusing the collar and cuffs after reading Sherry's post, which definitely helps with accuracy.  Technically, this shirt is nice.  In theory,  I should really love it.

It's okay.  I really like the back.  I like all the top stitching.  Something is not quite right with the collar, though.  It stands a bit too high.  Or maybe the orange is too much.  I may take off the collar completely and just leave the band.   And overall the shape is a little too boxy for me, though I knew it would be this way when I started.  Maybe I just need to figure out what to pair it with.  

 

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Would you like to make your own kindergarten blue painting?

Here are the details:

Kindergarten artists learned that a tint is made by adding white to a color and a shade is made by adding black.  We spent one day painting, discovering tints and shades.  On another day, we cut shapes from all sorts of blue papers and glued them to our blue paintings.  We even used a tiny bit of blue glitter -only reserved for special occasions.   And yes, we listened to the blues, too (the Delta Blues station on Pandora).