Bird Applique

I decided to try machine applique on a shirt. I have done burp cloths for A (cute and fun to do) but not a shirt and definitely not knit. T-shirts intimidate me because they are knit and because they are layered so you have to be so careful not to sew it together!!

There are a ton of great applique tutorials online. I really like this one by Sew Like My Mom. She has great pictures and clear instructions. I did not use fusible interfacing for this project because I was lazy. I used an old white shirt of L's because I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I drew the bird free-handed and used scrap fabric for the body and beak (I didn't have yellow and settled on orange.). I did a Google image search for pictures to give me ideas on how to do the beak and legs. I decided it would be the least amount of work to just make the legs straight. I used a contrasting pink button for the eye and hand-sewed it in place. I decided that I am not a fan of hand-sewing buttons :-)

Some tips when you machine applique on knit:

• Do not pull at the fabric when you are stitching. Because it is knit it will pucker when you pull. I learned this the hard way! You can kind of see on my bird's belly where the t-shirt puckers. 
• Use Wonder Under or some sort of fusible interfacing. It helps keep your edges in place. Again, I was lazy this time around and just pinned my bird in place.
• Test out your stitches on scrap fabric until you find what you like best. I played around until I decided on a zig zag stitch that was closer together but not completely close together like a satin stitch (the kind you see on the embroidered shirts done completely by machine).
• Be very careful while you sew. Pull up the back of the shirt so you don't sew it together. I go very slowly, a few stitches at a time, turning to the shape of the bird as a I go. I keep my needle down so I can just turn it bit by bit and keep it all in place. 

This is is what it looks like while sewing - a big, bunched up mess!

Yes, that's a big water spot... See how the birdie puckers (not laying completely flat)? That's because I pulled while sewing.

L's class animal for next year is a seal so I'm planning on doing a seal shirt for her to wear on the first day of school. I'm trying to start thinking about it now and not procrastinate like I usually do!

L wanted to model her bird right away. She insisted on posing with her hula hoop complete with wet hair from the pool. Oh, the life of a 4 year-old!