kojodesigns tutorial: embroidered t-shirt tutorial #2

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Embroidery is the answer to most of my handmade conundrums. Something is too plain? Embroider it. Need a gift? Embroider it. The function isn’t clear? Embroider it. This propensity towards a needle and thread has resulted in some fabulous creations and some outright craft disasters…That being said, when I was working on various options for a fabulous birthday gift for my best friend, I tried out several embroidered t-shirt options. Luckily, a couple were successful embroidery endeavors. Here is the tutorial for the t-shirt I kept for myself (I sent the gray, screen printed and embroidered one to her!). 🙂

You’ll need:
-a plain colored t-shirt (I used a Gap ‘favorite t’)
-about 4″ square of an extra t-shirt (or some fabric) that can be cut up and repurposed
-embroidery thread
-seed pearls
-embroidery backing
-a picture of the object you’d like to embroider, printed onto cardstock (I used a swirly flower from one of the fonts I’ve downloaded for free from www.dafont.com [I think the specific font is called “traditional floral design])

1. Using a mark-be-gone fabric pen, trace an outline of your image-to-be-embroidered onto the 4″ section of extra t-shirt or fabric you’re using.

2. Cut around the outline, leaving a little breathing room around the edges. This will become a “patch” of sorts onto your t-shirt, as well as the base for your embroidery. Still using your mark-be-gone pen, trace the rest of the image onto your makeshift ‘patch.’

4. Cut a piece of fusible webbing to match your makeshift, repurposed t-shirt patch. Follow the directions on the package to iron the webbing to your ‘patch’ and then to iron your ‘patch’ to your t-shirt.

5. Sew your pearl seed beads into the center of your image if it’s a flower (or if it’s not a flower and could use some pearl seed bead love). Then, using a basic backstitch (instructions by craftown here) and colored embroidery thread of your choice, embroider the rest of your image.

And there you have it! More wearable embroidered goodness for you or a friend.

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3 Comments

  1. Pretty! I love the design you used. SO many customizable possibilities. Thanks for the fun project, I'll be linking.

  2. Thanks for the tutorial. I bought some long sleeve plain shirts on clearance at Old Navy for 97 cents a piece. I wanted to do something extra with them, and this is perfect for my sister-in-law's birthday next week!

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