FUN Shirts!

It seems like many of my posts mention my friend D'Ann. That is because she is my creative muse! She and I find ideas and feed off one another. And this post is no different. D'Ann made the cutest shirt for her daughter Hallie while Hallie was a student in my class. D'Ann is always making something cute for Hallie to wear, and poor Hallie knows if I see her around and about our school, I am going to stop her so I can ooh and aah over D'Ann's latest creation. She also knows what happens next...I am calling up her mama asking "who, what, where and how" so I can re-create what she has made!  These cute shirts are no exception.  I have two important little girls that have birthdays in April, and these shirts were perfect gifts for them last year.  I have since made a couple more that are school spirit wear shirts.  BOBCATS is the mascot for our school, and I got my creative thinking cap on and came up with a fun design.  Then my good friend Jennifer was moving to a new school and I knew she didn't have any spirit wear items, so I cooked up a shirt plan for her too!  I must say....these shirts are time-consuming and truly a labor of love!  I have been approached by several people asking to buy one, I just can't do it!  BUT ~ Dawn and Marsha ~ if you are reading this, I do promise to make yours...soon. :o} 

Wanna try this yourself???  Here are some tips....I used a variety of felts, fabric, rickrack, and embroidery floss. I started by ironing the fabric/felt to a fusing material...I used Steam-A-Seam from HobLob, but there are other less expensive options out there that I would use if I did this again.  I drew the letters and parts onto the back of the iron on material...you have to draw it backwards so it will not be backward when you turn it to the right side.  I placed and ironed on all the letters (except for the rickrack letters, and for those, you just have to leave a little space for it).  Then I used a cross-stitch hoop to keep the fabric semi-taut.  The stitching part is easy, but slow-going!  You can see for some letters I used my sewing machine and zigzagged around them.  I am not very good at zigzagging, so these letters were the hardest for me!   Lastly, I sewed on the rickrack letters.  These are difficult and they don't look very good until you iron them down.  These shirts have washed very well....and I lay mine flat to dry.  It looks as good as the day I made it!

Thank you again to my creative friend D'Ann....who deserves all the credit for this cute idea! :o}

I'm sharing at these great linky parties~