Have you ever felt like you totally missed out on something? That's today's sew. When the Sofilantjes Otium came out, I thought, that's so cute, but I think my daughter's undershirt will show and it will look horrible. And worse, when I asked my kids about it, they said "no." Then it was decided.

Then, a few weeks ago, my middle daughter saw me browsing the Sofilantjes pattern site and said, "oh mom, I need that!" Of course, you need it now. <sigh>

So there I was, my middle kid who never asks me to sew anything asking me for a shirt. So I bought it and away I went.

Now, even though it was my middle daughter asking for a shirt, I still started by sewing the size for my eldest. Why? Because even though I sew by measurements, I never know whether something is going to fit well. And if it had been too small, it would get passed down to the next kid and so forth. This is why I rarely ever sew something for my youngest first. There's just no one to pass it down to!

So on to the actual pattern. The Otium pattern comes in sizes 12 months to 14 years. It includes 3 sleeve lengths. The Shirts is a regular loose fit t-shirt, but offers options for a color blocked front pocket and a beautiful bow back.

I opted for the size 7 with the bow back. The length on this pattern was absolutely perfect and my daughter loves this shirt. And while I was worried that the bow back would mean she couldn't wear her usual undershirts, she actually can and make it part of a fashion statement! I actually love the way it gives an extra pop of color underneath.

Our gorgeous fabrics are from Funkalicious Fabrics. I'd been eyeing this dragon print for over a year before I grabbed it this past Black Friday when it was 1/2 off and am so glad I did. The colors are so vibrant and beautiful. The weight is a little lighter than their usual cotton/lycra but still a very good weight and excellent for this project. And the stripes came out of my scraps from last year's order from Funkalicious. Their stripes are so colorful and a perfect match to their prints.

I did run into a problem with the pattern. The front and back shoulders do NOT match up at the seam allowance. I hate when that happens. I was still able to assemble the pattern, but the junction where the 2 pieces meet made for a very unpretty seam. Thankfully, I was able to speak with Anne (the designer of Sofilantjes). She was surprised to hear there was a problem with the design, but was happy to hear from me and said she would take a look at the pattern. I was able to send her photos and am eager to see the pattern get updated so her customers can be sure they're getting her best work.

In the mean time, you can easily fix the shoulder seam with very little work. Just match up the front and back pattern pieces, and extend the back shoulder pattern piece toward the neckline until the seam allowances match up. Or just sew it as is. You'll just have to do your binding carefully on the neckline to get around the unsmooth neckline.

All in all, I still love the pattern and will definitely make one for each of my younger 2. And when I check out the sizes 5 and 3, I can let you know whether they also have the same problems with the seam allowances matching up on the shoulder seam. If I was giving this pattern a grade, it would get an A for style and a B for that shoulder flub.