Thursday, February 25, 2010

Rescued T-Shirt Flower Applique (Printable Pattern Included!) - Attack the Stash!

Beckie is having a Roadkill Rescue Party going on over at Infarrantly Creative this week.  We are all about Roadkill Rescue around here...I would say at least half of the furniture in our house has been given to us as hand-me-downs and a few items were rescued quite literally from right next to the dumpsters in the student housing where we lived before.  Problem is, even the ones that are completely UGLY are still waiting to be redone.

So my contribution to the Roadkill Rescue party is the appliqued shirt that went with my daughters' cordoroy tiered skirts. 
I think the tutorial for the skirts would be more interesting---as in I'm still tickled pink that I figured it out and that they are so ADORABLE.  (Note: those who know me personally know I'm not really the trendy type, but these skirts turned out super cute anyway.)  Anyway, one of the rules is that the item you remake has to be free and even though the pants had holes big enough they were not even worthy of donating to a thrift store...they were not free.  I paid for them new once upon a time.  Don't worry, though, the tutorial for the skirts really will be coming soon, so stop back by!

What was free, though, was the shirt I upcycled for Firecracker to match the skirt.  So here is my BEFORE picture:
This Halloween puppy might have been cute once upon a time, but as it was when it was given to us...it's uglier than the worst of my husband's worn out t-shirts.  This is what it looked like AFTER:
Not bad, huh?  Certainly better than the original.

Here's a quick run down of what I did:
I started by making a petal pattern that I will include at the end here.  I just cut and trimmed some paper until I had a shape I liked.  Then I cut the shape out of the fabric.  (Bright pink to match a pair of hand-me-down tights Firecracker is ALWAYS wanting to wear and that match NONE of her other dresses or skirts.)
They still didn't cover the puppy...
...So I added some black petals from the skirt fabric behind and made a circle for the middle.
Then I pinned everything really well and sewed the black petals on without the pink ones in the way. 
Then I pinned...
.... and sewed the pink petals.
When I sewed the petals, I left a long enough tail that I could pull the tails through to the back and tie them in a knot, rather than sewing back and forth to secure them.  It just makes your stitching look cleaner.
I did not use any kind of adhesive here because I was out of Heat 'n Bond (Well, I had enough for the Sweet Pea's, but her petals were smaller) and didn't have any Fray Check nd was too excited to get the shirts done.  So far the shirts have been washed twice and Firecrackers is still holding up, but I'm more pleased with the result of Sweet's shirt.  After washing her, it's frayed just a tiny bit (which I wanted), but the Heat'n Bond seems to be keeping it from fraying any more.  To use Heat 'N Bond, you just trace the petal pattern onto the paper backing, cut it out, iron your petal pieces of Heat 'N Bond to the WRONG side of your fabric, cut it out again, peel the back off, and iron onto the fabric.  Here is what Sweet Pea's petals looked like ironed onto the fabric before cutting them out. 
You can get Heat 'N Bond that's no-sew, but I'm always hesitant to not stitch it.  If you use Heat 'N Bond, you won't have to do all the pinning.

6 comments:

  1. These shirts are so cute! The black really makes the pink stand out.

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  2. So darling. What girl doesn't need some flower power? Thanks for linking up.

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  3. Those are so cute! Thanks so much for sharing the pattern. I'll be linking.

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  4. Good Afernoon! Those coordinating shirts are so cute!! Great job on upcycling an ugly t-shirt. Your post caught my eye (at reinvented) because yesterday I did a post on Upcycle Woman's Dress! Thanks also for sharing your pattern.

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  5. Very sweet! I have been wanting to do something like this (though I think an airplane not a flower) for one of my son's sweatshirts that got a hole right in the middle of the front.

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  6. Wow NICE job! I love being able to rescue things and make them useful!

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