Friday, April 25, 2014

Applique Shirts: Shark and Max Steel




I am starting to work on the clothes the boys will need for summer.  I've gone through the clothes I saved from when the big kid was little and found that there is a severe shortage of 3T summer clothes.  I am not sure why this happened, because I saved practically everything - I must have been going through a purging phase at that time.  So anyway, he is definitely going to need some tees and some shorts.

I wanted to use applique on the kids' shirts to make them more interesting and something they would be more likely to pick out of the closet themselves.  I had ordered this cool ocean blue tie dye from Girl Charlee (the fabric seems to be NLA, the link is my referral link) and I decided to applique a shark onto it for the little guy.  The fabric does remind me of deep water so a shark seemed appropriate.  And the little guy plays with a toy shark in the bath and likes to pretend that it is eating cars and people and soccer balls, so I thought he would be excited to have a shark on his shirt.


I found a picture of a shark that I liked by searching Google images and then I used photoshop's pen tool to trace around the shark (although you could easily do this by hand with tracing paper).  I then printed out my outline and traced it onto freezer paper.  You can actually print directly onto freezer paper - I'm not sure why I didn't do that.

I used a grey knit fabric for the applique and and applied wonder under to the back side of it.  I usually use knit fabrics for my clothing appliques because you don't have to worry about them fraying. I then ironed the freezer paper with the outline, shiny side down, onto the front side of the fabric.  I cut around the outline and then removed the freezer paper from the front and removed the paper backing on the wonder under from the back.  I ironed the applique onto the front of the shirt and then for extra security, stitched around the edges. (sorry I didn't take any process pictures - that is something I need to work on!)

This big kid is in to Max Steel these days, so he got a Max Steel shirt.


I used the same process for this shirt - using the same blue fabric for the applique as I used for the sleeves.  When I showed this shirt to the big kid he was excited!  Too bad it is still not quite t-shirt weather...


The pattern I used for the little guy's shirt was the raw-edged raglan from Sewing for Boys (affiliate link).  I just didn't leave any raw edges.  The big kid's shirt is a raglan tee pattern from Simplicity 5125.  Next time I make this t-shirt though I will definitely add two or three inches to it.  The tees are wider and shorter than I like and than the off-the-shelf ones he has in the same size.


13 comments:

  1. Those are really cute, I especially like the shark one!

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    1. Thanks Noelle! the little guy wanted to wear the shark one today, but it was too cold! I hope it gets warm soon!

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  2. Both shirts came out really cute! I love the blue tie dye fabric you used for the shark shirt.

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    1. I know - that fabric is great! doesn't look like the kind of tie dye I am used to seeing. It has such interesting color variations in it.

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  3. Love that tie dye fabric...the shark applique is perfect! :) I've found Simplicity patterns run short too. I just made my son a jacket and it seems shorter than 'normal'. I need to remember to lengthen their patterns or at least check the length before cutting first.

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    1. Yes - definitely need to double check the length next time. My big kid is tall for his age too. I will have to write a note on my pattern piece for this shirt to add length next time I make it.

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  4. That shark applique is so striking on that fabric -- great choices! I'd love to see you join us at the Inspire Us Thursdays link party on www.theinspiredwren.com.

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    1. Thanks Ren! I did hear about your link party and meant to link up - thanks for the reminder!

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    2. Glad I could remind you. Thanks for linking up!

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  5. Thanks for linking up with Tuesday Sews at PiePie Designs!!

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  6. Those are both great tees! Thanks for linking up with Embellish is for BOYS!

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