"Annyong!"

"Annyong," readers! 

 

Granted, not everyone will get this. In fact, most people who walk by a kid wearing this shirt will have no idea. But it was knocking around inside my head and needed to get out. Sometimes that's just how it goes when you feel compelled to make things.

Annyong Bluth is a character on Arrested Development. Adopted from Korea for revenge purposes in the Bluth family, he greets the clueless Americans with "hello" in Korean - which at least according to the show is Annyong, and they assume this to be his name. The misunderstanding leads to many rounds of his hearing his "name" and responding with another "Annyong" in return. 

 

Speech bubbles fascinate Clover recently. She has developed an affinity for graphic novels, and makes me read them to her, forcing me to come up with different voices for each character so she can tell what's going on. It's kind of exhausting, but I like that she loves to hear stories. We've gone through several graphic novels already, most currently the Wizard of Oz. She also found a home in the teen lounge area, where she could last be found marching around announcing "speech bubble! speech bubble! speech bubbles everywhere!" 

This shirt was made for her, with her speech bubble love in mind. I figure even if she has no freaking clue what Annyong is, she can at least appreciate the look of it. 

 

The flashback skinny tee in a 3T served as the base for the shirt, and I scooped out the neck and modded the sleeves. Ah....the sleeves. The rest of the shirt is neatly serged together because I'm desperately avoiding sewing knits on my sewing machine. The Pfaff I use for everything has been out of commission for anything with a zigzag stitch since last Kid's Clothes Week. 

The backup Brother machine I keep hatefully stashed away in the shadows of a closet CAN sew a stretch stitch, and sometimes even do a good job. Other times feeding fabric through it neatly with consistent tension is like feeding my four year old dinner. Not without a messy fight, a lot of frustration, and throwing of hands in the air.

The sleeve hems on this shirt are a mess. Oh well.  

 

Having said this was for Clover, Violet is in fact the one who was willing to model it for me. The fit is better on Clover, but it works fine on Violet too. 

I used some gold dot oatmeal colored knit for the body, and didn't have enough left to do sleeves or a neckband, so I dug around and found some sad little leftovers of this organic knit to finish up the shirt. 

 

We took these shots quickly before leaving for church on Sunday. Totally not the strangest thing Violet has shown up to kid's class in. 

I made up a freezer paper stencil for the graphic. After staring at font styles for a while on photoshop, I realized I wanted something more handwritten. 

 

So, another nerdy sewing adventure comes to a close. Things don't feel quite complete without a companion "There's always money in the banana stand" shirt though....Hey, kids LOVE bananas!