Jackson Shirt and Shorts

I ventured away from dresses for a little six month top and shorts. This is the Jackson pattern from Children's Corner and the fabric is from Joanne's. I used leftover fabric from making all of these Frannie dresses. This pattern was all about firsts for me: first sleeves, first pants, first elastic, first french seams and first pleats.
It about drove me crazy. I have had this top and bottom on my desk for about a month now. I cut it all out and then couldn't figure out the pleats. It was all my fault for not reading the pattern correctly. I became so used to cutting everything on the fold that I cut the back on the fold, twice because the pattern said to cut out two, and then I couldn't figure out how it ended up with a split down the back and buttons. So I put it aside, made some dresses, and then realized my mistake. I went back and cut the back in half, figured it out and then progressed on to the front.

Pleats! I played around and finally got this portion right. At least, I think it is right, and it seems to look correct. :)

The next dilemma was sleeves. I completely read the wrong instructions for the straight sleeves instead of the puffed sleeves and ended up with a gather at the top, instead of all the way around. By the time I realized this, the sleeves were all the way sewn on and I was not ripping it all out. I decided I liked the way it came out, so it was a happy mistake.
After that, everything else went together pretty quickly. I love the way the french seams look on the inside, and I liked finished off the sleeve seams with zig zag stitches. That is pretty neat. The pants went together so quickly, and I made the smaller around the waist since Zerah has a small waist.

Overall, I am happy with the way it came out, and now I know how to do all these different things. The next one will go together much more quickly, and I do plan on trying it again. Although, it did test my patience.