Easy Applique

If I can applique, anyone can do it! I’m flying to Houston next week (girls’ weekend!) to see my Bestie, Jennifer, and I want to take some treats to her three kiddos. These are not the kind of treats that the kids will appreciate, but their Mommy sure will! She’s already seen the pics of the shirts, so I’m not ruining any surprises!  

I only learned how to sew back in March when I took a four week sewing class with my Seester, Drennon. We learned to make a child’s “Johnny” romper, and the sewing bug hit. I can’t do anything fancy, but if I can make an entire quiet book from scratch, then anyone can learn to sew!
I bought three t-shirts (2 girls, 1 boy) from Wal-Mart at $3.88 each, as well as some Christmas fabric from JoAnn’s a few weeks ago on sale. I only needed a 1/4 of a yard, so the fabric only cost a couple bucks, if that. The girls’ shirts were easy. I cut out a Christmas tree and sewed it on their shirts and placed a button at the top for a “topper”. The boy’s shirt was a little harder because I thought the tree was a little “girly” for him. I finally decided on an “a” for Alex. I made the “a” using Word Art in Microsoft Word. The font is “Howser”. All I did was stretch it on the screen to the size I needed and then printed it out.

I then made sure the size of the letter would work on the shirt. I traced around the letter with a Sharpie (my black ink was running low in my printer) so it would show through the back of the page (more on that below).

Heat n Bond is your best friend when making an applique! It eliminates the need to pin your fabric to the clothing. Make sure you follow the package instructions when ironing it on your fabric.

One thing to remember when using Heat n Bond is that you need to reverse your image on the smooth side of the paper so it will turn out correctly on the fabric. (I think there is a way to do this in Word, but I don’t know how yet!) This will make much more sense when you are actually working with the paper! I turned my computer paper over (the side with the “a” printed on it), traced the “a” on the back side of the paper, placed the Heat n Bond on top of the paper, and then traced again onto the Heat n Bond. Clear as mud?!

Cut around your letter so there’s not much paper around the edges (this keeps you from wasting fabric). Then, use your iron to bond the paper to your fabric. Again, follow the package directions.

Once the paper is bonded to the fabric, cut out your letter and make sure it looks good on your shirt.

Then peel of the paper backing to reveal the “glue” that will hold your fabric to the shirt. It will be shiny but not sticky.

Place your letter on the shirt exactly where you want it to stay and then iron it on. It’s so easy!

Once your letter is bonded to the fabric, it’s time to sew! Pick out a coordinating thread and sew around the edges of the letter. I’ve used a zig zag stitch as well as a straight stitch in the past. For this project, I chose a “tight” straight stitch in bright green. Don’t forget to sew around the middle hole if your letter has one!

Here are all three shirts! I am so excited to get these on those three kiddos! I made E a tree shirt too! Hers is white with a red button.

The total for all three shirts was about $15 since I already had the thread, buttons, and Heat n Bond.


Beth

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