Cub Scouting and shrinking t-shirts

Last week Josh and I each spent a day at cub scout camp with the boys from our ward.  I got to go to Camp Tracey with the boys and other leaders on Friday and Josh spent Saturday at the camp.

Because of car issues we were assigned to spend time with the Webelos even though Parker (our very own cub scout) was at the Wolf camp.  That's just how things work out sometimes.

Still, we were glad to be able to share time with these sweet boys from our ward and watch them learn new skills and try new things.

Leather working...

Being adorable...

Rowing...

 The scout leaders wanted to get matching T-shirts for all the boys, but sadly when they got to the scout shop they found that the store no longer sells kid sized shirts.  So they punted (like any good leader would do) and bought the shirts that were available...which were all x-large so they pretty much drowned our boys (see above boating picture). 

The boys were super good sports about it and everyone was thrilled to have cool shirts even if they were a bit big. 

I wish I would have thought of it sooner, but the day before Parker was set to wear his dress, I mean T-shirt, I decided to try to do something about it.

I had washed and dried the shirt a couple of times in the hottest temps I had, but that actually didn't do too much to help.  So, I laid out the big yellow top and then laid one of Parker's normal T-shirts over that.  I made sure the graphic on the scout shirt fit entirely underneath the smaller shirt so it wouldn't be cut off. 



like this

Then I traced a chalk outline around the smaller shirt leaving just over an inch of extra fabric for a seam allowance.


Cut around the sides but not at the top so the shoulders stay connected.

I cut the new shape starting at the top of the sleeve, but not cutting across the shoulder/neck side of the big shirt so that the shoulder pieces still held together.

Then I folded the shirt pieces over so that it was inside out, hemmed the bottom so it wouldn't fray, matched the sides together as best I could and then sewed a simple straight stitch up both sides.

Voila!

A t-shirt that fits much better than it did before so my skinny little wisp of a boy isn't swallowed whole by fabric!

It worked out well and it was really easy.  Like I said, I wish I had thought of that sooner, maybe we could have adjusted some other boy's shirts as well.  Oh well, there's always next time.

P.S. Parker had an absolutely fabulous time at camp and Josh and I had fun with the Webelos too.  I'm grateful for wonderful leaders who make events like these possible for my children.