How to make an appliquéd T-Shirt

Sam Gillespie runs a fab company Incywincytogs – she’s passionate about  sewing techniques – here she explains how to make an appliqued t-shirt.

Appliqué comes from the french appliquer, meaning to “put on”. It’s a method of applying a piece of fabric (usually a shape) on top of another, then sewn in place by hand or machine sewing.

 

I have been making and selling these personalised tees & bodysuits since the start of 2007, but have been using and teaching the technique of appliqué for many years. It’s an easy process to achieve and the finished item can, with care, look very professional. 

 

  

 

This is the method that I use on my machine, but I have also added details of how you could achieve this by hand appliqué below.

 

 

I use a medium weight calico template to cut out the letters and numbers from the desired fabric. This is then traced onto one of my favourite notions ‘Steam-A-Seam’. (A lightweight fusible web) fig.1.

 

 fig.1.

 

I used to pin and tack all the letters, but found this very time consuming. The fusible web is so easy to use and works wonders with my lightweight fabrics. However, if I’m ever doing a larger piece of appliqué I prefer not to use the fusible interfacing as I like the edges to be neatly tucked in. (Showing no raw edges).

 

Next the fusible web is cut out and place onto the wrong side of the fabric letter. Then I peel the fusible web backing off and place the letters onto the background and iron on a high setting.

This method of preparing the appliquéd design is permanent once it has been fused to the background. So I have to ensure everything is in position before being ironed

 

Finally I machine stitch around the letters to hide the raw edges. On the T-Shirt below I have appliquéd the letters onto a felt and denim background before adding the design to the Tee.

 

_____________

 

If you are going to produce something like this for a child/toddler then hand appliquéd felt works perfectly. Just remember to buy a high quality felt, as your item will need to be washed.

How to make a personalised felt appliquéd Tee ~

1. If the Tee is new wash to avoid shrinkage after the design is applied.
2. Print off the letters you require to use as templates (or freehand sketch them)
3. Pin the templates to the felt and cut out the letters using sharp scissors
4. Tack the letters to the background fabric using large stitches which can be easily taken out afterwards
5. Hand-stitch the letters on to the backing fabric fig.2. Using a buttonhole stitch or similar. Fig.3.

Experiment with several different stitch techniques to find the one that you feel most comfortable with. Ensure the stitch is going over the outside edge of the fabric and through the background fabric.

 fig.2.  fig.3. Buttonhole stitch

1. Then finally fuse and stitch the finished name/word onto your chosen Tee in the same way. (Using a tacking stitch to position and hold in place, then hand stitch to Tee)

 

__________

 

Appliqué Books for Kids…

If you want to show your kids some brilliant examples of appliqué then check out these books by illustrator/author Clare Beaton.

Photo from book ‘Secret Seahorse’ Stella Blackstone & Calre Beaton/Barefoot Books

 

Clare appliqués the pictures using felt, vintage fabrics, buttons, sequins etc. Well worth a look!

 

Appliqué Books for Adults…

Links to some great project books.

Embellished Appliqué by Patricia Converse/Creative Publishing International 2007

Applique by Polly Pollock/Southwater 2003

 

I hope this has been useful and remember to experiment and just have fun!

 

Sam Gillespie/incywinctogs

Paint splashed tshirts

A good way to make an old tshirt cool!

 
Younger children will need the help of an adult and I’d recommend some supervision anyway.

 You’ll need:

•  Old tshirt or a new T-shirt (prewashed)
•  Non-toxic fabric paints; fun bright colours
• Saucers/jamjars, one per colour used
• Clothes line and pegs
• 2-inch paint brushes; one per colour

 

Instructions:

 
First, make sure the kids are in suitable old clothing!
Old shirts are good cover-ups for little kids.

1.  Hang the tshirt to a clothes line outside. Be sure there is plenty of room for the paint to go flying and not hit something – like you or your house.
2. Pour paint onto the saucers/into the jamjars.
3. Help your child to throw the paint at the tshirt by loading the paint brush with some paint and flicking it at the shirt.
4. Let it dry on the clothes line, for up to 6 hours.
5. Wash according to the fabric paint directions.

Cool tshirt – Are you hated by the Daily Mail?

A cool tshirt alert from Duncan Campbell at the Guardian…

“One of the most fashionable T-shirts around these days comes in black and carries the words “Hated by the Daily Mail” on it. Its designer, who wishes to remain anonymous in case he gets added to the long list of the reviled, said that it is proving to be a winner.

“The beauty of it is that it can be worn by about 80% of the population: Gypsies, social workers, gays, asylum seekers, teachers, lefties, trade unionists, anarchists, single parents, drug users, immigrants, academics, scientists, people who believe in global warming, civil servants, Sir Ian Blair, Travellers, George Galloway, hoodies, Ruth Kelly, hippies, Labour politicians, dope smokers, Guardian readers, Lib Demmers, liberals, Guardian writers, drinkers, moral relativists… the list is endless.”

Mums are newest fans of slogan tees

Slogan t-shirts are in the news again this week. This time, it’s the turn of mums and mums to be to wear them to express their opinions.

Matthew Brown/The Journal News

Celebrities have been one of the first groups to embrace the new trend :Gwyneth Paltrow (“Yoga mama”), Kate Hudson (“Loving my buddha belly”) and Salma Hayek (“Sexy. Stylish. Pregnant”)

“The slogan T-shirt, for decades the medium of choice for expressing youthful rebellion, has found a new generation of enthusiasts: moms.

Messages like “I don’t do cupcakes,” “I need a nap” and “Nanny deprived” pick up where “Sex, drugs, and rock and roll” left off.

Today’s Gen X and Gen Y moms are donning message T’s to express a new zest for child rearing while keeping a healthy sense of irony about the label of “mom.”

“We’re proud to be moms now. The T-shirts are a way of embracing it with humor,” said Madeline Smith, a stay-at-home mother of two from Pelham who wears a T-shirt that says, “I need a playdate.”

Joy Rose of Hastings-on-Hudson, a musician and mother of four teens, said the T-shirt trend is “empowering” for women because they can simultaneously embrace motherhood and smash stereotypes.

“This new crop of moms is saying, ‘Enough. We’re going to rebrand and reidentify,’ ” Rose said.”

Read the full article here:  Slogan T-shirt finds a new generation of enthusiasts among mothers
The Journal News / Lohud.com, NY -

Arabella Miller supports Buglife

When I first set up Arabella Miller I wanted to put my money where my mouth is so I decided to join the business alliance “One Per Cent for the Planet“.
Companies who sign up agree to donate 1% of their annual turnover to projects approved by One Per Cent as making a difference to the global environment.
You can choose from a list of their approved organisations, or, you can suggest one for approval.
As a keen gardener, I’ve always tried to do my bit for insects such as growing particular plants to attract them to my garden. This Summer M and I also raised some ladybirds ourselves so that we could learn about their lifecycle.

I’ve produced some minibeast tshirts   as part of my first collection, so an insect charity would be perfect but as there were none already approved, I contacted Buglife here in the UK, and asked them to put themselves forward for approval. In Buglife’s own words

“Buglife is the only organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates, and we are passionately committed to saving Britain’s rarest little animals, everything from bees to beetles, and spiders to snails. Help us to secure a diverse and wildlife-rich planet for future generations.”

Today Melissa at One per Cent dropped me an email to say that Buglife are now an approved organisation.

This means that Arabella Miller can now support Buglife through One per Cent for the Planet’s scheme and that Buglife have the potential to benefit from the support of many other businesses who also choose to donate 1% of their turnover through One Per Cent for the Planet.

You wore it well…

Article on the contribution of the t-shirt to fashion and culture by Paul Morley published on August 26, 2007

 

 

Rebellion chic, circa 1977.
Photo: FROM VINTAGE ROCK T-SHIRTS, BY J

If you lived though rock’s golden age and all you got was a lousy Genesis T-shirt, don’t despair: it could be a valuable cultural artefact. Paul Morley remembers when merchandising actually meant something.

As you slip into your favourite T-shirt, consider how much its logo or slogan explains about your age, sex and cultural preferences. You are dressing yourself in history and opening yourself up to interpretation.

T-shirts as we know them – basic T-shaped undershirts that became over-garments once teenage fashion kicked in after World War II – took their shape in the late 19th century.

Read the rest of the article here

Is this slogan offensive?

I’ve blogged before about slogan t-shirts, and my reluctance to use them in my kids organic t-shirt business because they provoke divided opinions.

A friend of mine sent me the following post from his local community forum.

“Do you know that Peterborough Council now have the authority to decide what you wear around town while out shopping?

On Saturday my husband and I were out shopping, just food shopping and we were approached by two street wardens who said that they had been monitoring my husband during our shopping trip (we went to Asda and Poundland that is all) and told us that the tee-shirt he was wearing was not acceptable due to the wording on the front which might have been misconstrued as offensive and likely to incite a riot!

I just laughed at them and told them “they were having a laugh”. We also told them that the “said tee-shirt” had been worn in town many times before and everyone who had commented on it had though it was very amusing, this included two lady police officers who were on duty back last summer when my husband stopped to talk to them.

My husband was warned that if he was spotted in town wearing the offending tee-shirt again he would be liable to an £80 on the spot fine!

HOW DARE THEY!

Just because someone monitoring the CCTV had taken offence to a rather humorous tee-shirt. I cannot believe ANYone would find offence with the wording as it is only worn to make the reader smile.

We are not teenagers we are in our 40s and 50s, is that the behaviour of people our age? At the time we were stopped by the Street Wardens we were sitting on a bench outside of Poundland because we had just missed our bus home and were having a little rest and a smoke. We had not been drinking, we were not exhibiting rowdy behaviour, which is more than can be said of the football supporters who were on their way to a match this afternoon, we were just enjoying a saturday afternoon shopping trip as a couple.

Our argument is not with the Street Wardens as we told them, they are only doing their job.

Our argument is with the STUPID policies the local government has enforced upon LAW ABIDING citizens like ourselves.

We asked a few strangers as we approached the bus stop if they found the message on my husbands tee-shirt offensive, all of them laughed and said “NO”.

So Peterborough Council……………..WHAT is your problem? You publicly HUMILIATED us today while we were out shopping and we will NOT let this go without a public apology.

To all who read this please leave feedback and let me know if you find the following words offensive!

Don’t p1ss me off – I am running out of places to hide the bodies!”

At the time of blogging (27 August 2007) the online debate sparked by this post stretches to 15 pages!

Organic cotton market surges in value

Ok. So not strictly t-shirts but because I only use organic cotton, I’m reporting this feature from yesterday’s Observer about the Organic Market Report from the Soil Association.

The article  says:

“The figures are expected to reveal growth in the overall organic market similar to last year’s leap of 30 per cent. It is also likely to predict that organic farmers will be unable to keep up with demand. Food is still the dominant sector, but anxiety about alleged cancer-causing chemicals has spilled over into what people wear and rub into their skin and hair.”

And interestingly:

“Concern about the use of pesticides in the growth of cotton, and their effect on the health of farmers in developing countries, has prompted ethical shoppers to turn to clothes and bedding made from organic cotton. Even organic leather jackets and sheepskin rugs are now on the market.”

The report is expected to state that the value of the UK organic cotton market will surge by 50% this year to a value of £60 million.

Cool tshirts – how to make kids tie-dye t-shirts

I really enjoy hearing about crafty ways to make cool tshirts.

Here, Scottish artist Jennifer Wilson explains why she loves tie-dye t-shirts.

“Tie-Dye T-shirts are back in fashion ! They are a great addition to any wardrobe, adult or child and look just great down the skate park or wherever your kids like to hang out !

Tie-dye is a technique in which certain areas of fabric are bound or tied so as to resist colour when the material is immersed in a dyebath. The craft has been practiced in nearly every part of the world for hundreds of years, but probably began in ancient Asia and spread to Africa. American Peace Corps members who were serving in Africa in the 1960s brought the technique back to America and it became very popular at that time. It is now seeing a revival and has become very fashionable.

Since each design is always different and one can’t predict the end result with certainty, the surprise is part of the fun and you will end up with a totally original T-shirt.

I produced some Tie Dye T-shirts as part of a children’s art project. They thoroughly enjoyed it and picked the colours and designs for themselves. One went for a stripy design and one went for a sun shape. Photographs of those T-shirts are shown here

It is very easy to make a Tie Dye. We bought some 100% cotton white t-shirts and we used a widely avaiable Tie Dye kit. The kit includes instructions along with bottles of red, blue and yellow dye.

Remember you can also produce orange, green and purple on the material when these primary colours mix or blend. The kit also includes some rubber bands which are essential to the project. Tie-dye patterns are determined by the way in which the bands are placed on the fabric. It’s important to wrap the rubber bands tightly around the material to prevent the dye from seeping. Please note, adult supervision is constantly required and I did all the dyeing, just leaving the children to pick which colours and designs they wanted. Also please wear rubber gloves which are included in the kit and you better wear old clothes just in case !

To produce the stripy design, the T-shirt is folded over a number of times and then elastic bands are used to hold all the folds together. Dye is then squirted along the folds and sprinkled on the arms and sides.

To produce the sun design, you grab a section from the centre of the t-shirt and wrap an elastic band around the base, you then pull more and wrap further elastic bands until you have perhaps four bands along the section. You then you squirt the colours, in this case red in the centre, then mixture of red and yellow then just yellow and finally on the rest of the t-shirt we spattered a mixture of red and yellow dyes.

This is a photograph of the back of that T-shirt which is a nice spattered pattern of red and yellow dye. The T-shirts are then left overnight in plastic bags to allow the dye to fix.

The T-shirts are then rinsed out many times and then washed. The project was great fun and produced trendy t-shirts which are very wearable.
(Please note the description here is just my experience of the project, if you are carrying out a tie-dye project please ensure you carefully follow the instructions on any Tie Dye kit or product you purchase).

Another great idea, if you can stand the mess ! Is to have a Tie-Dye party for kids. Invites can be sent out in the shape of a T-shirt. The tie dye kit can make up to 5 T-shirts. The children can create the design and then it can be left overnight to fix and you have a massive rinsing session next day before delivering the t-shirts to the children who attended the party. They should all be thrilled by a very different sort of party. There is also great potential here to have for example a T-shirt shaped cake etc. with tie-dye effects created with mixing icing colours. Adult supervision is constantly required and I did all the dyeing, just leaving the children to pick which colours and designs they wanted.

So whether you are wearing one of your own Tie Dye designs or one of the fantastic Arabella Miller designs then enjoy your T-shirts !”

Jennifer’s artwork, including pet portraits and views of Scotland, can be seen here online.

How to – make a cool tshirt cushion

This is one of those fail-safe craft projects which is really easy to make and keeps older kids entertained for a couple of hours. It’s perfect for those times in the holidays when you’re asked for the umpteenth time “Mum what can I do today?!”

All you need to make your cool tshirt cushion is a old tshirt – you could use up one that’s had a mishap in the wash, been outgrown or one you’ve rescued for a local charity shop. I love poking around our local charity shop for old clothes which I can turn into something new.

I’ve used an Arabella Miller tshirt (the design is Bunny Hop) for this project.

Here’s what you need:

• An old tshirt
• Filling
• Scissors
• Needle and thread (or you can use a sewing machine to be super quick

1. Start by putting the tshirt flat on a table.
2. Stitch the bottom of the shirt and the arm holes closed (you can pin and tack them first if you want to be super professional).
3. Remember to leave the neck area open for the filling.
   Washable stuffing like kapok works well, but you can use other stuff like old rags (torn into pieces) too.
4. Gently stuff your tshirt until it is nice and plump and then sew the neck hole closed.
5. If you used a plain white tshirt you could decorate it with sequins or applique other fabric onto the front.

Ta Da!

There you have it – a cool tshirt cushion!