diy: how to make flower t-shirt appliques

Hey, guys! As I mentioned before, I’m getting bogged down with our website launch, so today I’m thrilled to hand the Fresh Home Blog reins over to the lovely Linda Facci from Facci Designs. Linda is the creative director for Magnolia Bakery and her fantastic blog documents the renovation of a house she and her husband plan to flip, along with her clever crafts and DIY projects. Also, you’ll see her Fresh Face in our Fall and Winter issues.

Today, she sent over this clever project: How to embellish t-shirts with handmade fabric flowers. Here’s Linda:

I’ve noticed a lot of lovely flower appliques adorning T-shirts lately, but they can cost a pretty penny. It’s much more fun to make your own with some scrap fabric and an inexpensive tee.

I wanted to give my shirt a few different looks, so I created my flowers with snaps. This way, they’re easy to remove and change, and also easier to launder.

I made my appliques out of cotton, but you can try some other fabric, like felt, linen or leather.

WHAT YOU NEED

• T-shirt
• Straight-edge scissors
• Pinking shears
• Needle
• Embroidery thread — I used red on a teal shirt
• Scrap pieces of fabric — cotton and felt work best
• Felt for the center of your flower
• Snaps

WHAT YOU DO

1. Prepare your T-shirt: Using your straight-edge scissors, use the existing neckline as a guide and cut below the neckline to create a scoop-necked shape in the front and back.

2. With red embroidery thread, sew a simple straight stitch around the neckline, about 1/8-inch from the edge.

3. Create your flowers: With your pinking shears, cut several circles in various sizes from your scrap fabric. It’s ok if they’re not perfectly round.

4. Layer them on top of each other to create a flower.

5. Cut a small circle from the black felt to create the center and sew it on the layered flower with a simple french knot. (Bring needle up from back of fabric, twirl thread around needle three times and insert the needle into same hole, knot on back.) Voila!

6. Sew one half of the snap onto the back of each flower, and the second half to your shirt. You’re done!

7. Now create more flowers to change the look.

I love this project so much! For more of Linda Facci’s crafts and DIY projects, check out her website and blog. Thanks, Linda!

Have any DIY projects you want to share? Send them to editors@freshhomeblog.com.

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