You may remember my tales of woe from learning to sew in my post where I showed how I finished an antique vanity as a sewing table.  Aside from an owl pillow I made in 6th grade Home-ec, my attempts at sewing were nothing to write home about.  However, I’m not a quitter, so I was ready to give it another go when I wanted to create some cute whimsical holiday shirts for my kids and family.

I bought some long sleeve cotton shirts and then visited the craft department for some fabrics.  The first shirt I was going to try to make was a turkey for Thanksgiving.  I planned to make the turkey body in brown flannel fabric so I bought a yard of that since I also planned to use it for the Christmas shirts, then I picked several other fabrics for feathers.  I also purchased some polka dot fabric for the antlers and solid red, yellow, black and green for various accents.  Armed with my array of fabrics and some notions like colorful buttons and embroidery thread, I was ready.

I drew my turkey template free hand onto some card stock and cut it out.  I thought I would do feet too but did not end up putting feet on the design.

I washed the shirts and all the fabrics prior to sewing anything.  After I ironed the fabric I cut the pattern shapes and laid them out how I wanted, then when my design was the way I liked, I secured the fabric pieces with a sewable heat bond.  After that it was off to the sewing machine where I sewed around the pieces with an applique stitch.  The first shirts were a bit laughable but my little ones thought they were great and with every shirt I got better.

For the Christmas shirts I did the same thing except I made a moose template which honestly ended up looking more like a reindeer but nevertheless is still cute.  I was in a rush because we were using them for a picture but would like to add bows on my daughter’s shirt and mine as well.  For all the boys I want to add a bow tie.

This is the light hold heat bond that is sewable, I just wanted to hold it in place so I did not need to use pins for sewing. It worked well.

I made 9 shirts in all (2 turkey shirts and 7 Christmas shirts). It really gave me confidence to make friends with my sewing machine and if I could do this, anyone can.  I know they are far from perfect but they are made with love and to me that is what matters the most.  If you would like any more specifics please ask.