Flowering Vine Applique T-Shirt Tutorial

Hi! If you are visiting from One Pretty Thing's Daily DIY, WELCOME and please be sure to follow me if you like my blog, and leave me a comment to let you know who you are and a link back to your blog so that I can visit!

I have been wanting to make an appliqued t-shirt of my own since I have been doing so many kid versions. Target has these fabulous v-neck pocket tees that I love--they fit me well, they layer with my Yummie Tummie well, and they come in great colors. Here is the finished shirt:


Hmm? That dust on my mirror? I'm just keeping it real, folks. LOL

So to begin, pick a shirt.

Next, pick a contrasting fabric to use. Looking back at my finished shirt, I am thinking that it would look great with the flowering vine in an Amy Butler fabric. This was my first one, so to practice, I used some old pillowcase material that I have scraps of.


Next I went to istockphoto.com and searched out "flowering vine illustration" to give me some artwork from which to base my design on. Here is one that I found that I liked. You don't have to pay for it, just do a print screen and then you can blow it up on your printer if you need to.


I am decent at freehanding, so I just applied my Heat n' Bond to one side of the pillowcase material, and then drew elements of the design onto the fabric to be cut out.


First I started by laying out the vine pieces. You can see that I have that pesky pocket to deal with. I guess I could have ripped it out with my seam ripper, but I was worried about creating a great big hole.


Here's a neat trick--once I got the layout I liked, I just rolled up the shirt and took it to my ironing board to then iron the pieces to the shirt. (My board isn't wide enough for me to be able to lay it out the way I would like, so I use my dining room table.)


Here is is ironed:


Next I started to choose thread colors. I knew I wanted to use two colors, to give it an interesting look.

Then it was time to begin laying out the leaves and flowers.


Sewing the flowers was a little rough, but I like the sort of grungy, messy look. It made the whole project feel very free-spirited and not tight.


I also had these sort of bud-like flowers:


And here is a close up of two contrasting leaves:


And here is the finished shirt again, with a Yummie Tummie and leggings!

This project took me a few days--I really needed to pay attention as I was turning the shirt this way and that under the sewing foot constantly. Now I think I should look at a free motion quilting foot--some of that technique would lend itself well to a project like this!

Thanks for visiting, and be sure to check out these fabulous Monday Link Parties!

Market Yourself Mondays at Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do

Sneak Peek

So since I can't bear to be silent for a whole week, I took a quick pic of the project I am working on for Monday's post. Think vintage pillow case remnants and free-flowing applique. Be sure to check back Monday to see the project revealed!

Today I have linked up over at Tea Rose Home. Go visit and check out all of the great crafting things being posted!

It's Gonna Be a Slow Week Around Here

Ella and James rocking away on the porch at our favorite apple orchard.

So sit back and rock on your porches a bit--I have lots of work to catch up on so I won't be posting much this week. But be sure to come back and check on me--I have something really fun planned for Monday next week!

A Little Friday Love for My Vintage Rolling Pin

Is that weird that I adore my rolling pin so much that I want to dedicate this week's "A Little Friday Love" post to it?


Bah. Who cares. How could I not adore it? Just look at how gorgeous it is! That aged blue detail on the handles is my favorite part.


The wood is so warm, so homey, so inviting . . . it says "Welcome to my kitchen. Have a seat. Have a slice of pie."


Or in today's case, have some homemade noodles that I just lovingly made from scratch and rolled out with my favorite kitchen tool.


Old-fashioned Chicken and Noodles, anyone?


E-mail me if you'd like the recipe. It was a great meal for one of the first cool Fall days this year!

This post is part of a few linky parties. Please visit them--you will fill your head with so much inspiration that you'll be crafting or baking or decorating or re-purposing for YEARS! (Plus, some of them are my newest friends--so if you like me, you're bound to like them, too!)

And a little note, I won't be back until Monday--we are readying for our yard sale--so I'm going to be knee deep in boxes for three days! (And hopefully knee deep in cash at the end!)

This is Why Need A Crafting Room . . .

. . . with a door and a LOCK ON IT!










But then again, I'd never see my cute little assistant in action, would I?