Tutorial: Applique' Shirts

My daughters constantly stretch my creativity. One year my oldest wanted to be a snake for Halloween. A snake guys. Have you ever seen a snake costume? Well, yeah... so I sewed and stuffed a green stripped tube that was long enough to trail the ground and attached it to a green long sleeve shirt. It was pretty hilarious. I even stuck a rattle inside at the bottom. Can I show you?

I think the other kid in the picture was just as embarassed as I. Anyway, on to the shirts! As I was saying, my kids push my creative limits. My youngest turns 5 this week and wants a stingray themed birthday. The stingray aisle at Party City is pretty bare. So I turn to my tried and true party favor, custom shirts! The Snake got them done in dinos for her 3rd birthday. The baby will get stingrays. Whatever my baby wants, my baby gets. Within reason.

I buy $3 shirts from Wal-Mart. You will also need: Wonder Under or some type of double sided fusible interfacing, fabric to coordinate with shirt, coodinating thread, embellishments if desired (bottons for eyes, rickrack trim, so on).

Step 1: I sketch out the shape I desire. For this one I drew various stingray species and had the baby choose the one she liked best. Thankfully she picked the simplest silhouette. The more basic it is (less curves and details) the easier it will be. If you cannot draw, print out some shapes from the internet and cut them out to use as a template.

Step 2: Fuse the interfacing to the fabric of your choice. Use a hot "junk" or sewing iron (not your Rowenta!) as the chemicals and adhesives in the interfacing usually destroy the hot plate with time. I bought a $4 cheapy from Wal-Mart for sewing/interfacing use only. Hold the iron on for about 10 seconds and then pick it up and press again in another area.

Step 3: Cut out your desired shape from the interfaced fabric. I hand cut these instead of drawing because I like each shirt to be unique. Every stingray is a bit different. Once your shape is cut out, remove the paper backing and iron onto the shirt where you wish it to be placed.



Step 4: Sew around the shape, just to the INSIDE. I used a straight stitch as I like the edges to fray and lift a bit after some washings. If you do not want the edges of your shape to fray and lift, please use a tight zigzag stitch and overlap it right on the edge (outline the shape). Please go extra slow during this step and make sure the shirt does not bunch underneath and get "caught" in the stitching.

Step 5: Add any embellishments. I wanted the rays to have eyballs. Glittery shiney bejeweled eyeballs. 



And then I repeated 7 more times. We like small parties around here.

Wal-Mart ran out of navy blue so a blurple one is thrown in there. Most important, be flexible. Second important, imperfection is fun.

I hope this tutorial helped, if you have any questions or anything is unclear please ask! Do the Stingray Shuffle!