14. Pacific Print T-Shirts

I love original kids clothing, but often the coolest stuff is the most expensive. When I had my daughter I quickly realised how much PINK was about when it came to girls clothing. My girl was not a pink girl, and as a bit of a tomboy myself I decided the best thing to do was to dust off the sewing machine and make some clothes for her. 

Plain kids t-shirts cost almost nothing and in under 10 minutes you can transform one into a very cool little number.  Here's how to do it.

Cost: Under $5

Time: Under 10 minutes

Materials:

1 plain cotton kids tshirt. Mine was $2 from a department store.

Fabric remnants - for mine I used Pacific cotton prints that I'd collected over time. Quilting fabrics work just as well.

Fusible hemming tape or spray glue.

Thread and scissors.

Here we go...

If you're planning on making a few of these I suggest cutting a square out of stiff cardboard so that you can use it as a pattern to draw around.

1. Cut out a square of printed fabric to fit in the centre of your tshirt.
2. If using hemming tape cut 4 strips and use them to fuse the print onto the tshirt with an iron, making sure that you place it in the centre of the shirt.
3. If you're using spray glue (my fav method) spray the wrong side of your printed square - outside - and place it onto your shirt in the centre.
4. Stitch around the square neatly.

You're done!

The edges of the print will fray in the wash but the glue or tape keep it from fraying too badly. It looks great with a bit of fray anyway, and my tshirts have been through my 2 kids and then various cousins and nephews without wearing out.

How about trying:

Sewing a vintage doily onto the front instead of a square of fabric
Cutting out the print off an old fav tshirt and using that on a kids shirt
Using a square of vintage fabric from a curtain or tea towel

Too easy.