In today’s post, we want to show you an easy and very inexpensive way to customize baby and kids’ clothes by recycling scraps of fabric. You can also use this technique to customize your own T-shirts and garments: there’s no age limit… or limit to your creativity! You can use different fabrics and designs depending on whether the T-shirt is for you or your little ones. Do you know what appliqués are? Do you know how to make them? No? Then pay close attention, because they’ll let you turn a plain T-shirt or bodysuit into an original, fun design.
If you want to watch the video tutorial, go directly to the link at the end.
How to customize baby clothes with appliqués.
What do you need?
Very little!
1. Heat and bond: A kind of adhesive paper interfacing that will make creating appliqués much easier. You can also do it “the old-fashioned way,” using pins to hold the fabric in place, but it’s more cumbersome and there’s a greater chance that it will shift.
2. Template for the appliqué shape: If you’re good at drawing, you don’t need one—you can simply draw the shape you want to sew freehand. A mustache, a star, a heart, a cat, a sardine skeleton… If not, the easiest way to find templates to download is, of course, Google.
3. Fabric scraps: You probably have lots of these, but if you don’t and want some variety, you’ll find very inexpensive scraps of pretty fabric in our shop.
4. Sewing machine: Although you can also do it by hand.
How do you create the appliqués before sewing them?
1. Get or draw the template in whatever shape you want. We used mustache-shaped templates for the video tutorial.
2. Cut a piece of Heat and Bond large enough to place the template on top without it extending beyond the edges.
3. Iron the rough-cut pieces of Heat and Bond onto the fabric.
4. Once the Heat and Bond is firmly attached to the fabric, place the template on top, draw the shape with a pencil, and cut it out with scissors.
5. You now have the appliqués ready to place on the bodysuit or T-shirt!
How do you secure and sew the appliqués?
1. Now the appliqué is like a sticker: remove the paper backing and place it properly on the garment you’re going to customize.
2. Iron it for another 6 seconds so it’s firmly attached.
3. Let’s go to the sewing machine! Use a zigzag stitch that goes from the outer edge of the appliqué inward. It will look prettier than if you stitch outward.
4. When you position the garment to start sewing, always try to begin with the straightest line of the appliqué shape. It will make things easier.
5. There’s no rush—take it slowly, following the shape! And just like on the road, watch out for the curves.
Where can you watch the whole process?
If you have questions at any point in the process, need more details, or simply want to see how to customize baby clothes to make it even easier, visit our appliqué tutorial and you’ll see how easy and quick it is to do with Laura.