It’s been a while since a blog post! Being the mom of two boys, it’s been difficult finding clothes that aren’t covered in construction trucks, puppies, or sports paraphenalia. Not that there is anything wrong with trucks, puppies, or sports, but when it’s on EVERYTHING and your kid wants something different, it does make shopping difficult. To acquiese to my boys’ need for “cool” shirts, I looked up ways to easily spruce up a simple plain t-shirt. I settled on felt appliques done with iron on transfers, and it seemed the easiest for me, plus it conformed with the boys’ desire for “cool shirt designs”. I started with some simple shapes and did two Star Wars themed shirts (Darth Vader and Yoda) which came out great. Here’s the step by step process I used!
My oldest gave approval of this Darth Vader shirt.
I made a Star Wars Yoda shirt for my youngest.
Here is the walk-thru for how I made a Lego Ninjago shirt for my kids. I googled online for a picture, something with simple lines and shapes that could easily be cut apart. This is for the character of Sensei Wu.
I cut apart the paper image into pieces, usually by the different colors I would use on the final product.
I cut out the felt pieces and rearrange to see what it would look like altogether.
I pinned all the cut pieces to the shirt I wanted to use to see how it would look.
I was going to applique the pieces on the shirt afterwards, so i used Heat n Bond Lite to adhere the felt pieces onto my fabric. For those of you who don’t want to sew, I would suggest using either Heat N Bond (regular strength), or Wonder Under.
I glued the felt pieces of Sensei Wu together, then put it on the plasticky side of the Heat N Bond transfer paper.
Turn over the Heat N Bond transfer paper to the paper side, and iron it for about 30 seconds. There are directions on the transfer paper as well. Do NOT over iron! you will have a sticky mess everywhere.
Then, peel the backing away from your picture. Now the back of your piece (in this case, Sensei Wu) should be shiny. If not, iron it a little more.
Here’s the backside of Sensei Wu with all the backing pulled off. You can see I embroidered some details on the front.
Then, I put Sensei Wu onto my shirt of choice, and ironed it on for as long as the directed stated (I think another 30 seconds), and you’re done! For added strength, I would also stitch around the edge of the applique to make sure it stays put through washes and play.
The finished products! Sensei Wu and Kai, the Spinjitsu master.
They also asked for dragon shirts.
This one is my favorite, but oh my goodness, SO MANY CUTS. I’ll never pick another pictures with so many scales again.
