What if I Embroidered a Shirt?

This week I wanted to mix things up, so I chose my own pins for What if Wednesday. On Monday, as I was trying to fall asleep, I was thinking about how many shirts I wish existed, and that weren't super expensive. So I thought, why not make my own?

The Vote

I couldn't decide whether to embroider the pattern onto a shirt or do an iron-on. So of course, I asked my peeps of Instagram. These pins were my starting points: embroidered shirt, iron-on shirt.

I also couldn't decide what to put on my shirt. The dictionary definition of Feminism, or the logo for one of my favorite bands, Opposite the Other.

The popular vote was the Opposite the Other logo. They even messaged me because I tagged them in my story! I didn't know it sent them a direct message saying I tagged them, but it was still cool. They were really nice.

The Supplies

The original tutorial I was going to follow had a video and everything but seemed a little complicated and required a lot of supplies. It was good advice, but I figured I could get away without every item on the list.

So, I looked up another tutorial on Pinterest, and took advice from the two. The second one from Me & Mr. Jones, seemed more reasonable because it only required a t-shirt, embroidery floss, an embroidery needle, and a disappearing ink pen.

I went over to Sidney's house because she said she had some supplies I could borrow. What a blessing! She let me use her needle, embroidery floss, mini embroidery hoop and Aida Cloth. (sidenote: Sidney was in my previous post about DIY bath bombs)

Then I headed to Walmart to get a cheap t-shirt. I ended up getting a gray guys t-shirt for only $3. Score! I also got a bigger embroidery hoop that was $3 and some extra embroidery floss.

Printing Symbols

I went to the school library to print off the symbol of the band that I was going to embroider. I had no idea if I wanted a small symbol or a big one, so I printed out a couple different sizes just in case.

Tracing

This whole week was crazy, but Wednesday was the craziest of all. I didn't actually get to start this project until about 12:30am. So I guess What if Thursday. Crazy, right? Anyways...

I cutout the print of the Opposite the Other symbol and traced it onto my shirt using a fabric marker. I put a smooth box in my shirt to have a flat surface to work on. I actually cut out parts of the symbol at a time and traced it, then continued to cut it down to the middle circle.

Hoops and Cloth

The next thing I did was put Aida Cloth in the shirt under the tracing. I then put the embroidery hoop on the shirt and cloth. The hoop and Aida Cloth were simply to help stabilize the stitching for accuracy.

Embrace the Embroidering

I split the embroidery thread in half and pulled it through the needle. I was simply stitching a couple circles and some lines, how long could this take?

A long time.

I watched a couple new episodes of New Girl, but then switched to Phineas and Ferb because I didn't want to watch all of the New Girl season in one night. Phineas and Ferb is so great. Each time I watch I notice more hilarious jokes I didn't catch before.

I just kept embroidering away, thinking that I was pretty close to done.

Five hours later, I actually finished the design. Its almost as if I was in this surreal state just stitching away in limbo. I didn't necessarily mean to stay up all night, it just kind of happened and I didn't resist. Oops. I did get to sleep at 6:00am until my 2:30pm class, in which my final presentation was due. 'Twas good.

I cut the Aida Cloth around the design but left it inside the circle, because I thought it might be helpful.

Final Results

I actually think I did a pretty good job! It is definitely a multi-day project that I attempted in one night but it turned out "not too shabby" as Doofenshmirtz would say.

The only thing is that the way I embroidered the symbol, it looks like a Pokéball. My roommates were impressed with my hand stitching though!

Suggestions

-iron out the Aida Cloth before you use it

-don't buy stuff you don't need

-plan out your design before

I will probably add the words Opposite the Other underneath the symbol and stitch a double line around some of the lines. Anything to make it look like less of a Pokéball.

P.S. Opposite the Other is an amazing band from South Africa. I love every single one of their songs. Go check them out on Spotify! Maybe I could see them in concert one day. One day..

Thanks for reading! Comment what you would embroider on a shirt.

See ya next week!

#crafts #shirt #OppositetheOther #embroidery #sewing #WhatifWednesday #Fashion #ironon