Friday, March 16, 2012

Birthday Tee, A Quick How-To

Julia turned 8 this month and her birthday shirt was decorated with an octopus.

Here are the basic steps for embellishing a t-shirt:

Prepare your materials:
a t-shirt, a template of your design, Heat'n Bond, and fabric.
Materials for Birthday T-shirt

Fuse the Heat 'N Bond to the fabric.
Fusing Fabric and Heat 'N Bond

Pin the template to the fused fabric and cut.
Preparing to Cut the Template
Cutting the Template

Peel off the backing from the Heat 'N Bond.
Peeling off the Heat 'N Bond

Place the design on t-shirt and fuse with hot iron.
Fusing the Octopus

Sew around the outside edges of the design to secure the embellishment. (No photo for this step. I forgot to take one.)

You're finished!

I didn't like how the octopus turned out with my first fabric choice--you couldn't tell it was an octopus--so I made a second octopus and layered it over the first. The eyes and mouth are also fused with Heat 'N Bond and stitched.
Double Octopus

I added a patch on the back of the t-shirt with the number "8" just for fun. It's a bit rough looking but that's what you get when you don't have time to hand embroider.
#8

Julia loved her t-shirt but did comment that the octopus was a little bit stiff. I guess that's what happens when you end up with two layers of Heat'n Bond. Hopefully it will soften up with a few washings.

Here are some other t-shirts I've made for Julia's birthdays:
Some Birthday T-shirts

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