So, I don't know if any of you have ever noticed, but it's very hard to find things to make for the MiniMan in your life. All I see are things for girls, or material that's a little too cheesy for my taste. So since Lijah Man gets left out of the sewing scene around here so often I figured I'd do my best to make him some new summer outfits. He was so excited at the thought! In the process I remembered how much I love appliques and wanted to pass along to you what I've picked up here and there over time. Here's a picture of him in his new outfit (I wish I could've gotten a close up of the shirt to post, but he wouldn't take it off, so he's sleeping in it. :), and below are step by step instructions on how fun and easy it is to personalize things with applique, even with no sewing machine!
So, the first thing to do is buy some of the amazing, can't-live-without, Pellon Wonder-Under Transfer Web. You can buy this wherever you buy your fabric and it's about $2 a yard, which goes a long way. It's like wax paper on one side with a rough surface on the other. You're going to need to decide how big you want your design first, then cut out a chunk of Wonder-Under a little bigger than that. For example, my big diamond was 4"x3" so I cut my square of Wonder-Under approximately 5"x4". It doesn't need to be exact. Then heat up your iron and when it's ready lay the ROUGH side of the paper on the back of your fabric. This is important, if you iron on the rough side your going to really mess up your iron and have a burned up sticky mess. Yes, I speak from experience. And if you iron this to the right side, or patterned side, of your fabric then you won't be able to use the fabric. So, after you're sure you've placed it right, iron the smooth side of the paper for 10-15 seconds. Now comes the fun part. You can draw whatever image you like right on the paper that's now temporarily glued to the back of your fabric. Remember this is the back of your fabric so letters should be drawn on backwards. It's fun to do different pictures, someones name, the options are endless. When you've drawn your image, cut it out. You'll be left with fabric on one side and paper on the other of a shape you've made. Then you peel off the wax paper. Now you have your fabric with a slick film on the back. Lay this piece exactly where you want it on another piece of fabric, slick side down, patterned side up. Then when you're sure it's perfect, iron it again until it looks like it's sticking. When that's finished you can embroidery around it if you're lucky enough to have an embroidery machine, or zig zag stitch around it if you're like me. Another option without a sewing machine is to use puff paint around the image. This step is to keep it from unraveling around the edges, but not necessary.
This may seem like a lot of work, but after you do it you'll see it's as easy as can be and so much fun! I've used this to personalize our puppet theater, a cape for my nephew, and a doggie toy for my... err... doggie-niece? Along with clothes and many other things. So go on and make some super cute matching Fourth of July shirts for your kids, you know you want to!! Then they can be as cute as him!
