Monday, January 31

Reverse Appliqué Tutorial: Boy's Valentine's Shirt


While working on Lucy's Valentine's dress, Henry expressed an ardent desire for a Valentine's dress of his own.  It's hard for him when 98% of the things I sew are for Lucy.  Not wanting him to feel left out, we worked together to make him a Valentine's shirt.  He picked the fabric for the heart and watched eagerly as I sewed and cut and trimmed.  
He was very happy with the result. 

I embellished this t-shirt using reverse appliqué.  It's a very easy process and I thought I'd share how it's done, just in case you have a three-year old boy in need of a Valentine's dress. 

1. I took one of Henry's t-shirts and removed the pocket with a seam ripper (hence the little hole on the right).  That small hole actually acts as a guide later on.  If you are working with a shirt that doesn't have a pocket, cut a small hole in the front of the shirt where you want the heart to go.

2. Cut a piece of fabric into a heart shape.  This heart is about 4" x 4".

3. Turn the shirt inside out and pin the heart over the hole you made in step one.

4. Using a straight or zig-zag stitch, sew around the edge of the heart.  Turn the shirt right side out and cut away the fabric that falls inside your stitching.  Cut close to your stitches (about an 1/8" away from the seam), but be careful not to cut through them.  


5. Baddabing-baddabang! You're done!  AND you have a happy boy!

5 comments:

Jen said...

Becca, he looks SO happy about his cute shirt. Good job!

sarah said...

Carson and Henry should start a "my mom only makes my sister things" club. thanks for sharing, I'm going to make him one today :)

m. said...

he's so cute! love the shirt idea.

wordandcraft said...

Super cute!

Anonymous said...

Appreaciate for the work you have done into the post, this helps clear away some questions I had.