Girl’s Applique T-shirt

Learn how to add create an applique t-shirt by adding fabric to match a skirt – or a scrap of your favourite fabric from your stash.

My Little Miss just keeps growing. Kids do that, you know. So she needs new clothes – constantly it seems! With it being Purple Week over at And Sew We Craft and since purple is one of her favourite colours at the moment, I thought I’d create something for her this week.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my step-by-step photos the other day as I made her a skirt. If you missed it, don’t worry. You will find them all together in a tutorial at And Sew We Craft.

Here’s the tutorial to create the matching teapot shirt.

What You Need

• a plain T-shirt
• a piece of fabric for your applique picture – I used some cotton quilting fabric
• Vliesofix or similar double sided iron-on adhesive
• Iron and sewing basics

What To Do:

1. Iron your fabric and T-shirt nice and flat.
2. Cut out the shape you want to applique from your fabric.
3. Iron a piece of Vliesofix onto the back of your shape, slightly smaller than the shape itself.
4. Peel off the backing paper and iron the shape onto your T-shirt.
5. Now the trickiest bit: Stitch around the shape a few times just inside the edge of your shape. Depending on the size of the T-shirt, it can be tricky to manoeuvre under your sewing machine. I used the darning or free motion quilting foot which made my lines messier but saved turning the shirt as much.
6. All done!

Notes:

• This type of applique is sometimes called Raw Edge Applique because you leave the edges of your shape raw or unfinished. You will get a little fraying when you wash your garment. This is part of the look.
• Wrapped in Fabric, one of my lovely blog sponsors keeps a product similar to Vliesofix called Heat n Bond in their Fabric Adhesive section.
• You can applique any shape you like, but simpler shapes will be easier to sew around.
• I have used this technique before on another outfit for Little Miss: Butterfly Outfit