Airplane Banner Shirt- Free Templates!

H wore this shirt yesterday and I realized I hadn't blogged about it yet. So I did what any good blogger/ bad mother would do, and made him stand on a tall dining chair by the window so I could get some light on it for pictures. He was so confused, since he is not normally allowed to stand on those chairs, and kept yelling at himself, "Get down!" Even he knew I was being a bad influence :)

I made it for his birthday party a couple of months ago, and it was pretty much the only cute party thing that survived the crazy wind at the park that day. I kind of love it.

I've really starting to like doing applique with knit on knit. All these pieces I just cut from my stash of old t-shirts. Since the edges don't fray, you don't have to use a zig-zag stitch or anything that goes over the edge. A straight stitch does the job nicely. 

I like the way the edges kind of curl up a little too. The tee material still works with HeatnBond just as well. But since the edges can be curly, it's much easier to iron the fusible web onto a big patch of material first, then cut out your shape from that- as opposed to cutting out the shape from the material first and then trying to attach a little piece of fusible web in the exact same shape. (Does that make sense?)

The airplane banner wraps around the back and celebrates his two-ness. I'm glad I just put "2" on it and not anything that says birthday, so now he can keep wearing it all summer.

For the strings connecting the banner to the tail of the airplane, just cut 2 thin strips of the white tee and tug at the ends to make them curl up on themselves. Then stick the ends in place under the appliques when you iron them onto the shirt. Stitch around everything, and they hang out nicely. They are a little stretched out in this picture after he wore it all day, but they always tighten back up in the wash.

So here are the templates for you to download. I did not include the 2, because you can put whatever you want on your banner. Also, the plane windows are just three little squares I stuck on there. Use it for whatever, but I'd LOVE to see if you make something with it!



Airplane template -




Banner/clouds template -




Like making boy shirts? See more here. Happy Summer Boy Week!

A Dress a Week #6 (With Free Download!)

This week I made the Warhol Dress from MADE from a couple of old t-shirts. I really love this pattern, the tied yoke is adorable. And Dana's directions are always clear and easy to follow. I really feel like I learn a little something new about sewing clothes every time I follow one of her tutorials. 

Here's one more I made in the smaller size, just using the design from one of my husband's old shirts. 

I had no idea what I wanted to put on the front of that first dress until late last night when I should have been going to bed. That's the way it always happens. I came up with this little pigtails and lips combo and I liked it so much I wanted to share it with you!



So here you go:


girly stencil


I've never tried to make anything available for download on the blog before, so please give it a quick try and let me know if it works easily for you. I used the free site docstoc.com, which was really easy.

Please use it for whatever in the world you want, even making obscene amounts of money. Just please be kind enough to link back here to where you got it.





You could use it as an applique design like I did, or even try a little screen printing or freezer-paper stenciling. If you've never done the freezer paper thing, check out instructions here (a video) or here.

And if you've never done applique using fusible web like Heat 'n Bond, (that's what I use, I like that it comes in big rolls,) this explains the basics pretty well. The best thing you can do here is read the instructions on the Heat 'n Bond package. (Or Steam-a-Seam, or Wonder Under, or whatever you find at the fabric store.)


Here's a few more examples of how I used applique this week to make Hendrix's old newborn gowns more girly.  (These all use fabric scraps I got in swaps with Tara and Janee. Yippee!)