Today I have been busy making the fourth shirt – 2nd boy option – and it has NOT been my day. I have made so many mistakes sewing, and what was to be the easiest shirt has turned out to be a bit more complex than I had imagined. I think it would have been easier if I had planned to make it the way you see it (below) from the beginning! My original idea just looked boring when I was finished so I added in some more details – explaining the 2 photos in the “You will need” section!
Having said that I am SO HAPPY with the final results. It’s perfect for my 3 year old nephew, who happens to LOVE basketball. Grab your sewing supplies and fabric scraps and lets applique!
BBall Bunny Easter Tee
I’ve added a “read more” button here. Click below to access the rest of the tutorial.
You will need:
- 1 plain/coloured/striped tee
- 1 scrap each of orange, green, black, white and cream fabric
- thread to match the black, green and white
- fabric paint pen (wide tip)
- fusible web (I use Steam-A-Seam 2 – see why in the last post)
- ballpoint needle (for sewing knits)
- pencil/pen
- water soluble marker
- ruler
- pattern pieces: click HERE for the 1 page printable pdf
- your usual sewing gear
Before you begin:
- Print out the pattern pieces (link above) on letter size (8.5″ x 11″) or A4 paper. Important: Do not select “fit to page” when printing, make sure you print at the original size. Cut out the applique pieces on the thin solid lines (dotted and thick lines are for placement and painting).
Here we go:
1) Get out your piece of orange fabric (I used a woven scrap) and your fusible web. Cut a piece of fusible web large enough to cover the size of the egg shape and place it on the back of your orange fabric. If you are using Steam-A-Seam you can adhere the egg-ball pattern piece to the adhesive on the back of the web (make sure the pattern piece is right side down).
2) Turn the fabric/web over so you can see the basketball lines through your fabric. Trace them with your paint pen. Now, cut out the egg shape.
3) Place a piece of fusible web on the back of your black fabric (I used a knit scrap). Fuse the basketball egg to the black knit (use a press cloth to avoid getting fusible web on your iron). Cut out the egg shape again about 1/8 – 1/4″ away from the outside line of the orange egg basketball. Set aside.
4) Get a piece of fusible web large enough to cover the green shape and place it on the back of your green fabric. Place the pattern piece upside down on the adhesive and cut it out. Set aside.
5) Cut 2 pieces of cream fabric for the inside of the bunny ears. Again, put a piece of fusible web on the back of the fabric (I used a knit scrap) and cut around the shape. Make sure you REVERSE the pattern for one of the shapes so you have a left and a right inside ear. Set aside.
6) Hold on through this one! It is the most complicated step – so read it through it before you continue on. Refer to the photos and you’ll be fine! You’re smart, you can do it!
(A) Cut two white scraps (I used knit fabric) large enough for the ear shapes. (B) Place your ear pattern on the fabric and mark where the dotted line begins and ends. This is marked in red in the second photo. (C/D) Remove the pattern piece and use a ruler to draw a line on the fabric. (E) Take your other fabric piece, REVERSE the ear pattern piece, and make a line on that one as well. – DO NOT CUT OUT THE EAR YET!
(F) Cut a piece of fusible web that is the same size as your knit fabric piece. Place the knit fabric on top of the fusible web and mark a line – same as you did with the pattern piece above. (G) Cut the fusible web into two pieces along the line. (H) Place your fabric right side DOWN. Grab the “top” piece of fusible web and adhere it to the top of the knit fabric along your line. (I) Turn the fabric over, right side should be UP. Adhere the “bottom” piece of fusible web to the bottom of your knit fabric along the line. (J) Lay the ear on the knit/fusible web – line up the line on the pattern piece with the line on the knit. (K) Trace around the ear shape. You should be tracing onto fabric on the bottom, and the fusible web paper backing on the top.
7) Cut out your ear shape and follow step 6 above to make the opposite ear – make sure to use the pattern piece in reverse. Now you can arrange your applique pieces on your shirt to see how it looks – isn’t it cute! I’m not sure what inspires me to lay everything out, but I can’t wait to see what it will look like – so I have to try to “fake it” before I am done!
8) Take all of the pieces off of your shirt. Now centre the egg shape on the shirt front – make sure to leave room for the ears! Iron it onto the shirt following your manufacturers directions. Use a press cloth. Stitch around the black border with matching thread.
9) Iron the grass on beneath the basketball egg shape. Stitch around the shape with green thread.
10) Remove the paper backing from the cream inner ear shape and adhere it to the bottom of the ear shape. Now place the bottom half of the ears (with paper backing removed) onto the shirt. Iron the bottom half of the ear shape ONLY using a press cloth. Now stitch around the edges of both of the ear shapes you just ironed (on the bottom of the ear only) using white thread.
11) Remove the paper backing from the fusible web on the top portion of the ears. “Fold” the ears down along the line and adhere them to the shirt. Stitch along the ear shape as illustrated in red in the second photo. Do not stitch along the top of the ear shape near the fold.
All done – You made it!
We gave reached the end of “Make Your Kids DIY Shirts for Easter” week. I have been super busy this week sewing each of the 4 tees and then taking the time to post tutorials for them. (It’s only slightly crazy (rolling eyes) of me not to sew them all first than then post everything next week – but that would be too organized!) Thank goodness my wonderful husband has taken the kids on a surprise trip for the afternoon. Boy were they ever excited! Gives me a bit of time to concentrate on sewing.
Go have a great rest of your weekend and I’ll see you on Monday!