Butterfly Love Shirt

I love the look of a faded graphic t-shirt especially when it's personalized for my girl. 
Purple? Check. 
Butterflies? Check. 
Glitter? Check. 
Super long lashes? Check.

Last week, Happy Hour Projects had a great tutorial on  how to make a graphic using freezer paper and bleach. So using that tutorial, I made this shirt and took it a step further... x 3.

I started with a regular purple shirt.  I traced the butterflies onto the freezer paper, cut and ironed onto the shirt. I purposely ironed the butterflies over the sleeves...

I lightly sprayed bleach onto the shirt...just enough to get the fabric wet...and by total accident, a couple of drops of bleach fell onto the bottom of the shirt...in the end, it worked in my favor. Make sure to insert cardboard or plastic bags into your shirt to protect the back of the shirt...you don't want bleach to stain that part.

When it was dry, it looked like this

When I removed the butterflies, it looked like this...see how the accidental drops of bleach worked in my favor...looks like butterfly dust as they flutter about.

I liked it but it was missing something...so then I did this...using freezer paper, I traced and cut out the word LOVE.  Ironed on the stencil and proceeded to paint the letters using several fabric paint colors. I painted and blended in the colors over each other.  Once the paint was dry, I went back and repainted the letters again using fabric glitter paint.

Then it looked like this...I forgot to take a picture of the shirt without the hearts, but basically, the shirt still looked too blah at the top.  So I drew and cut out heart stencils using freezer paper.  When I ironed them on, the white fade from the bleach turned yellow... :(  I painted the hearts in just like the letters.

I wasn't loving the yellow "glow" in the middle.  In my attempt to "cover up" the yellow, I added more sparkle to the shirt with glitter fabric paint.  I just dabbed on some glitter dots and smeared them with the paint brush. 

Now the shirt looked like this

 Now the shirt looks like this...much better

After washing it in a regular load, the yellow came off...whew.

And this is what the shirt looks like when Sammie is in model mode...

Work it girl!

The Mommy Touch...

It is no big secret that I have an obsession when it comes to embellishing my kids shirts or mine for that matter. You know it's bad when my son complains about a plain shirt; "Mommmmmm, this shirt doesn't have ANYTHING on it!" So what I'm I to do? To appease my little fans, I change up their shirts, just a little. 

I give it the MOMMY TOUCH.

See the eyes...no eyes really...

now look how much better rocker panda looks...just by sewing on buttons

Brontosaurus' skeleton looks like it has something to say...

...he does!! I made a freezer paper stencil for this shirt.

Trex's eye seems off with his large head...

so I sewed on a large button...he's looking good now.

I really liked this shirt when I bought it...

but seriously DUDE...this is much better, just use fabric paint.

Another dino shirt...although the bottom blue head sure pops...

it looks better with orange fabric paint...I just filled in the lines and smooched a button in the eye socket  

True story: All I did to this shirt was iron on the strip of rhinestones to the front. Neighbor's kid was over and she said, "Oh I have that shirt too!" and when she took a second look she said, "Oh never mind, mine doesn't have diamonds."   It's easy to make your child's store bought clothes different from the rest.  

Another simple striped shirt...but add a store bought iron-on applique

...bet you no other kid has one like this.

I did sew it after I ironed it on...just to make sure it stays on.

I hope I've given you some simple ways to give your kid's clothes the MOMMY TOUCH.  

Pretty soon, no shirt will be left untouched...just like at my place.

The Lemony Zebra Shirt

My husband came up with the name, the Lemony Zebra Shirt, because he said it looked like a cross between a lemon and a zebra. 
I think he got it right...don't ya think?

Notice the bag...it's the Chic Denim Bag...click here for the tutorial 

I've had this idea in my head for awhile now and I am really pleased at how it turned out.  It took a lot of work, but the end result was worth it for me.  I tend to turn to ruffles when I remake a shirt, so this was new territory for me in a way.  It is simple yet it stands out on its own.

So this is what I did. 

I bought two shirts; one that fits and one larger, same color. 

The larger one I took the sleeves off and separated the front from the back.  

Because this shirt material is very sheer and somewhat see through, I decided to use both the front and back of the larger shirt to give the shirt some sort of stability (if that makes sense).  Layer the front and back of the larger shirt to the front of the shirt that fits..

and pin, pin, pin. 

Now sew straight or not so straight lines across the front making sure to back stitch at the beginning and at the end of your stitch.

When done, cut down the middle between stitches.  This is the same concept as this tutorial.  Now you have 2 layers of fabric that are sewn to your shirt. 

These layers will be cut again.  This time, cut both layers that are ON TOP of your stitch line about 1/4 inch from the stitch. Then cut each layer individually that are ON THE BOTTOM of your stitch line.  See the bottom picture for an idea of how it should look.  

I know this is a lot of work, but it really is pretty.   And don't worry about cutting straight lines.  Remember knit fabric doesn't fray but rather soften up with each wash so the cuts you make will just give the shirt character...

Close up of the cuts

I really like how the stitches curved up towards the sleeve

Because I took pictures at different times while making this shirt, the color of the shirt varies.  The first picture is the true color of the shirt.  

No Sew Girl T-shirt Refashion

I just could not pass up this $2 clearance t-shirt for my daughter.  The only issue was its long sleeves.  No problem...(sorry, I got ahead of myself and cut off a sleeve before taking a before picture...but you get the idea. )

Measure how long you want the sleeve to be, add about 3 inches to that length and cut.  

Use the cut sleeve to  measure the other sleeve and cut.

Fold up both sleeves about 1 to 1 1/2 inches and iron down.  While the sleeves are cooling down, cut a long strip of fusible web (I use Wonder-Under) about the same size as your fold.  Iron the fusible web to the folded sleeve as shown below. 

Let the sleeves cool down again and then peel off the paper backing of the fusible web.  

Fold the sleeves up one more time and iron.  I promise this is the same shirt...but this pink color is the true color of the shirt.

Done...now you have a perfect summer t-shirt.

Baby girl wearing her new $2 t-shirt. 

Gotta love those dimples. They go well with her new shirt.