American Mickey Tshirt

Not only to prep my son for his Disney World experience, but to save on costs, I made Eliel a Mickey Mouse t-shirt (great for pictures and instead of wasting time and money in buying an overpriced one actually at Disney).

Now, to find a plain, white, tshirt for a young kid is an ordeal! Simple is, apparently, not popular. I went to all sorts of department stores and thrift stores looking for a plain.white.t-shirt with no logos, no designs and just couldn't find one. At one point, I was even considering getting one with a small design and just covering up with my design.....but then I wasn't paying over $10 for such an item.

I finally found a plain t-shirt (had to look in the "underwear" department) in Bonnie Togs (a children's clothing store, Canadian?).

Funny situation. When the sales associate pulled out the undershirt, I was definitely excited. Then she asked what size. I initially said "2"...but they were folded, so I couldn't really see the right size. (It's my first child, so I do eyeball a lot when it comes to size.) So then, I said, "it's cotton...it may shrink after I wash it...Can you take it out of the wrapping so I can see the actual size". She gave me a little of a look (because the shirt was folded and taped and like somewhat shrinkwrapped in...pretty much, once out, it wasn't easily going back in). Seeing that look, I said, "I will more than likely get this one. I just wanted to be sure of the size. Especially that the next size is a 4"). I didn't know that sizes only go 2, 4, 6 etc. There was no "3".... So she opens it up. I look at it. I squint my eyes. I purse my lips. And I say "Nah, I think I will get the 4". I see her eyes nearly pop out and I try to defuse the situation (and her impending eye-problem) by saying "because I'm just not sure of how much shrinkage, and I have a growing toddler". She mumbled something about 'it's fine' (yeah, real convincing!). I said, "I'm sorry. I work in retail too and I know that that's sometimes frustrating...." and she snapped at me something along the lines of "somehow I'll manage....". Okay, seriously, enough drama. It's called folding, stuffing into a bag and adding some scotch tape. It's not rocket science. It's just the death of a tight crease.

So I got the size 4 (and there was actually two in a pack) for $6.

I then went to the fabric store and looked for an American Flag pattern --- which in Canada, apparently, they don't have! Yet, they had a whole assortment of Canadian Flag patterns. Seriously!? Aren't we like neighbors or something? Can't I just walk across the border to get back into my country and you can't have one (ONE?!) American Flag pattern?

But then I got an idea, that I thought was even cuter. I did find a Vintage Star pattern and some red ribbon and decided to make the Mickey head/profile as an American Flag.

So for about $5 ($3 for the shirt and about $2 in fabric and ribbon), I think it came out nicely! And my son is quite happy to wear it. Now, I just have to hide it until we get to Florida, because he would request to wear it each and every day!