Happy Monday! I have made a few of these applique shirts and they are SO easy and inexpensive {assuming you have a sewing machine!!}. Let me try to give you a quick tutorial. If you have questions, please feel free to email me or comment and I will respond!
If you don't know what appliqueing is, according to the world wide web, its a technique of laying one fabric on top of the other fabric.
Here is what you will need:
-Shirt or article of clothing that you are appliqueing on.
-Fabric
-A shape or design you like {I usually just freehand this but you can trace it too!}
-Iron on adhesive {I use Steam a Seam and Heat'n Bond is a good brand. It comes in a pack with multiple sheets.}
-Interfacing {Pellon is a good brand and this is sold off of a roll like the fabric is.}
-Sewing machine or needle and thread to stitch around edges
-Scissors
1. Pick out the shirt you want to applique on and your fabric. I like to do a little collage deal so I can see how everything looks together. I was doing this for my SIL and I knew that our niece was wearing the little grey tutu pants and potentially the pink shirt underneath. I was appliqueing on the white shirt {Target often has good plain shirts and Hobby Lobby does too.} The bottom right square is the fabric I chose to match.
2. Trace or freehand the shape or number. I do it onto a sheet of paper.
3. The Steam a Seam comes in THREE layers. The middle part is the adhesive part and the outside parts are just to keep it from sticking and eventually become trash. I lay the sheet of paper with my drawing on top of the three sheets of Steam a Seam and the fabric and I cut it all out as one piece.
You can see below, I have the traced piece of paper {top number 1}, the fabric {middle number 1} and then the Steam a Seam {bottom number 1}.
4. Next, I peel the top off of the Steam a Seam and I place the fabric on to it and align it. Once I am sure it matches and doesn't need any more trimming, I pull of the back of the Steam a Seam and I place it on the shirt where I want it. Now, iron it down. The heat on the iron makes the glue fuse to the shirt and this helps hold your design/number in place.
5. Now that it is on, you are almost ready to sew. The Steam a Seam does not 100% hold it on so I think stitching around the outside is a good idea.
Cut a piece of interfacing and use a few pins just to tack it in place on the INSIDE of the shirt. Basically, the interfacing just provides reinforcement. You could get away with out using this stuff, I just always have used it. In the end you will tear out everything but what is on the design, so just cut a square and slap it on the inside.
6. Now you are ready to sew. You can do this by hand with just a normal stitch and go around the edges, or you can do it on a machine. I used my machine.
I used the "zig zag" stitch {number 10} and I made the height of my stitch fairly tall and I made the width of each stitch fairly close together. You can vary this based on the look you want on your shirt.
6. Just go slow and trace the shape, design or number. If you look closely on the inside of the number 1, you will see that my stitches are a bit further apart. When I got to the corner, I changed the width of the stitch to make it a bit tighter. Go slow around all of the edges. This is the tricky part but after you do a few, you will have it down pat. Start with an easy shape til you get proficient!
If you DON'T have a sewing machine, NO problem! Just take a needle and thread and stitch around your design. Nothing fancy, just a single, straight stitch. It will hold it in place and give the design a little extra flair. Easy breezy!
7. Have a super cute helper with lots of rolls!!
8. Once you get all the way around, step back and admire your handi work! Its not perfect, but unless you look close, no one will know that I free handed the number and whipped this shirt from start to finish in about in about half an hour!
9. Lastly, don't forget that we still have interfacing on the inside of the shirt. Turn it inside out and pull out whatever is not tacked down or reinforcing the stitching.
10. Again, admire your handiwork!
I made AM's shirt for her 2nd birthday and she also has one that has her initials on it that I made...note to self, using a scripty, cursive type font is QUITE difficult when you are trying to trace!!
Good luck and let me know how it goes if you try it!
umm WHAT! that's incredible!
ReplyDeleteCute!
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