I really love to sew, but every once in a while it's nice to leave the machine in its box and do something on my own! This project is simple enough that, if your kids are old enough, they can definitely do it with supervision.
This project is inspired by projects I've seen others do, so this idea is definitely an original thought of mine. I'll share what I did anyway, though. I had a bit of a hard time finding a plain white t-shirt for Tiny One that was the right size, so necessity gave birth to invention, with the tied sides. I think it's fun! Here's what you need:
A t-shirt a couple sizes too big (white)
A t-shirt that fits (pink - just for a reference for size. This shirt won't be altered in any way)
Blue fabric paint (I used the Tulip brand Soft fabric paint)
Fabric glue (I used FabriTac - I think it's fabulous!)
Red Rick Rack
First, take your scissors and cut a straight line up each side of the shirt. Mine had side seams, so I cut along those and cut the serged part out. If you have a t-shirt without side seams, grab the shoulder seams and shake the shirt out and lay it as flat as you can, then cut along the folds.
Now take the shirt that fits and carefully lay it on top of the other one, matching up the neck and shoulders.
Cut off the sleeves to about the length of the shirt that fits, or however long you want them. It may seem weird, but you can cut it about even with the sides. When you tie it, the sleeve will come out further than the side of the shirt again.
Cut strips, stopping a little bit away from the edge of the shirt that fits. Cut through both layers of shirt at the same time, so that they're the same. I did about 3/4" inch cuts. It doesn't have to be perfect. I just eyeballed it.
Now tie the bottom pieces to the corresponding pieces. I tried to use all square knots, but it's really hard to keep track on these! A double knot of some kind will do fine. :)
Here's how it will look when you're done. I cut the bottom of the shirt off so that it wasn't so long, but I left it longer than the shirt that fits. When you tie this, it will pull it up a little bit.
Now for the paint! Make sure to put enough paint on that hand so that it doesn't dry before you get it onto the shirt. I learned the hard way... We had to do it twice.
Put the handprint in the upper left, where the stars on a blue field would be on the flag. I had to take some paint and a brush afterward and make the blue smudge look more like a hand. A 17 month-old doesn't exactly have a desire to hold still enough to put their painted hand onto a shirt multiple times. Hence the random smudges...
I cut pieces of Rick Rack and laid them on the shirt, trimming and arranging until I was happy.
Then, one at a time, I lifted each one off, drew a line with the glue, and replaced the Rick Rack. Once I was done gluing them on, I went back and made sure the ends were glued down, so that they don't get snagged on anything. This glue sets pretty quickly, while still being re-positionable.
I grabbed some star-shaped buttons and glued them on for good measure. Why not? Now I can't wait for Independence Day so that Tine One can wear it!
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