Thursday, October 28, 2010

Pumpkin Reverse Appliqué T-Shirt

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{Supplies}

178_0118 Coordinating thread
Small SHARP scissors
Fabric (orange and green)
T-shirt (I actually found mine at the Dollar Store)
Pins
Pattern/Picture
Ribbon
Embroidery thread (green)
Sewing machine

 

{How To}

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Cut a square out of the orange fabric, big enough for you chose pattern and then some.  Pin orange fabric on the INSIDE of your shirt, wherever you want your pumpkin to be.  We choose the top center, on the chest. 

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Pin your pumpkin picture onto the FRONT of the shirt, printed mine of the internet.  I actually did a Google search for “pumpkin appliqué” and got a lot of great results. 

178_0122 178_0123 178_0124Sew around the outside of your pattern, VERY CAREFULLY!  This pumpkin had a bit too many small curves for me, so instead of unpicking my horrible sewing and trying again, I sewed around my pumpkin five or six times, trying to sew close to what I’d already sewed but not right on top of the stitching.  In the end, I liked the look this gave. 

 

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Be careful not to sew the back of your shirt to the front, or the front to the back.  I did not once, but twice!  Only sew the front of the shirt, otherwise you won’t be able to fit a little person in there!!

 178_0126178_0128 Here is what my shirt looked like, remember the orange fabric you pinned the back, obviously you want to be able to see that so here’s what you’re going to do next:

 

 178_0129 178_0130 178_0131178_0133Using your small sharp scissors, carefully cut on around the inside of your stitches.  Getting as close as possible to them, with out cutting them.  

Now you have your pumpkin, but it needs a stem.  I wanted my stem to go behind my pumpkin, so this is what I came up with:

178_0134Cut a little slit at the top of the pumpkin, but not through the stitches, just above them.   178_0135To make my stem I used a piece of brown ribbon, cut, folded in half, sewed together the open edge.  This will go on the inside of the shirt, so you won’t see it.  So I didn’t worry about hiding seams, or as you can see changing my thread color.   178_0136Insert sewed end of ribbon through the slit so that the sewed end is inside the shirt 178_0137 178_0138Pin and sew on top of the ribbon, I tried to blend this in with the stitches I already  sewed. 

Pumpkin, check.  Stem, check.  Now for the leaf and vines.  178_0139Cut out two leaf shapes, place wrong sides together, sew around the edges, turn right side out.   178_0140Put some of the leaf in that slit you made to make it look like it’s coming from the pumpkin and the stem.   178_0143178_0145To sew my leaf onto the shirt, I used coordinating embroidery thread, sewed up the middle and around the edges.  As you can see I did not to a great sewing job with the machine, but I thought it helped the leaf to match a little better so I left it.  178_0146 178_0147 As a finishing touch I used the same green embroidery thread and stitched on a few swirly vines.  

   178_0152Pretty happy with my finished product, and it even survived the wash.  I had fears it would completely come apart, but it made it!  My pumpkin was a little bumpy, which added character to a pumpkin, but wouldn’t look so great if it was an initial or something.  So my tip would be, chose something with a simple shape that will be easy to sew around.  And make sure when you are pinning you get everything nice and flat and tight.  Oh, and it was super fast, it took me about an hour from start to finish. 

 

 

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I’m excited to make some different versions using this technique, Wal-Mart has a ton of plain long sleeved shirts for $3 right now!

 

For more help and tips you can visit:
Crafting in the Closet and Sugar Bee Craft Addition



A Glimpse Inside featured buttongiveaways

7 comments:

  1. I forgot to tell you to grab the 'feature' button! :D

    BTW, I absolutely love that shirt and your little girl is adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Super cute project...even cuter model! Happy Halloween.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh My Goodness...HOW CUTE!!! Thanks for another great tutorial!! : )
    M.L.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a sweet shirt on a sweet little girl!
    Thanks so much for linking it up to my party! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, this is amazing!! I wish I could use my sewing machine to it's potential!! So cute....love it!!
    xx-Kristyn
    www.goodgravycrafts.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. What an adorable little girl and shirt. Thanks for the instructions and for linking up.

    ReplyDelete

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