Make This: 4th of July Appliqued T-Shirt Tutorial

Earlier this week, I was in search of a quick way to get some fun patriotic wear for my girls, and I thought an appliqued t-shirt would be perfect. When I first started sewing, I was a little hesitant about applique. I knew about more intense applique by hand, but I didn’t know that there were easier ways to go about it until a while later. I don’t mind doing a little quick applique for a holiday t-shirt.

For this project, you will need:

T-shirt
Applique fabric; I used Red Bandana
Heat ‘n Bond Lite or similar fusible adhesive product
An applique shape/design
Silhouette/similar digital cutter or scissors

To start, you will need a design. I chose to do an outline of the United States with a star cutout over our home state, Utah. If you have a Silhouette, you can download the .studio file here. If you don’t have access to a digital cutter, find an image that you can draw or trace. Next, you will need to prepare your applique fabric by ironing the fusible adhesive to the wrong side of the fabric, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I cut a piece of adhesive the right size to fit in my cutter, but you can just cut a piece that is a little bit bigger than your design.Cut the fused fabric away from the rest of the piece.Now you can cut your shape out. If you are cutting by hand, draw your design on the paper side of the fusible adhesive, making sure to mirror image the design. Cut out your shape and peel off the paper backing.
Position the shape on your shirt and iron into place.
Top stitch about 1/8″ around the shape’s edge to keep it secured. You can also do a blanket stitch, if preferred. I like to set my stitch length to about 3.5, just because I like the look of the big stitches.And that’s it! Wasn’t that easy to jazz up a plain T-shirt? These little cuties are officially ready for the 4th festivities! Any questions or comments? Leave us a note in the comment section below.