I figured out last week after attending the embroidery club gathering that I could hoop stabilizer, and so this week I have been working on long sleeve tee shirts for my youngest granddaughter. I order 2 packages of shirts from WalMart.com and washed them to “pre-shrink” when they arrived. She is just growing into a 4T and these might last her through the winter. I’ve enjoyed going through my various notebooks of designs and picking things that would suit her.
The first one I decided to make was called Trick or Treat Kitty —
I used variegated thread for the cat and the bat on the hat. (Say that fast!) Pleased with how we got a great striped cat, but not so much for the bat on top of the hat. I didn’t want to make a black bat on a black shirt, so I thought it would stand out with the variegated thread….a little disappointing. (Hindsight I should have used silver!)
The second shirt was called Garden Sketch Kitty –
This “sketch” design seemed a little light on the pumpkins and squash, and I ran the stitching a second time. I should have run it again on the yellow flower or chosen a bolder brighter yellow.
Next up were pink pumpkins on a blue shirt….
This “sketch” design put down a LOT of thread…and that’s good…because this thread by Superior Threads, GLOWS in the dark! (Not that a 2 year old will be “in the dark” very often…but it is fun. )
The next package of t-shirts were pastels, and I searched for “non-seasonal” designs in my notebooks.
This was the most challenging design of all with 3 pieces of applique and MANY thread changes. Can you tell what it is?
(This was the FAVORITE of this group of 4 shirts) She was very excited when her mother was showing her the shirts. I think it turned out well, in spite of me letting get a sleeve under the hoop and having to spend an HOUR unstitching 1 flower to release the sleeve…sigh…
Hooping those little t-shirts is a challenge, trying to keep all the stuff “out of the way” while it stitches.
The next two shirts I finished up this afternoon.
Who doesn’t want to ride on a pegasus unicorn on the carousel??
And the final one…I couldn’t resist!
All of these designs were for a 4×4 hoop, stitched out on my Brother PE500 machine. The designs were from Oh My Crafty Supplies.
I used Floriani Sticky back stabilizer in the hoop, and Floriani no show fusible mesh on the back of the shirt, and Floriani water soluble stabilizer on top. I also backed the shirt after removing from the hoop and clearing jump stitches with a soft product called Cloud Cover (brand unknown) that would keep the thread and stabilizers from scratching a small child. I used primarily Embroidex thread. (That variegated thread I was sent for free one year at Christmas from Embroidex).
These fun projects kept me busy this week!
What are YOU working on?
Stitching Grandma 