The Year of the Number Shirt

Each year I try to choose a theme for the gifts I'm going to give my little angel nieces. Last year was shirts with their ages on them. The last one went in the mail last month (happy birthday Jordy!!) so I can blog some pics now without ruining the surprise.

I love the little "2" shirt because it sort of lets the world know what to expect from this little angel. Her mom may think she's a bit terrible at times, but her Aunt Tif thinks she's perfect in every way! :)

Isn't she the sweetest thing? Oh I love that smile!

This "8" shirt was for my daughter. She is so over pink so she didn't match her cousin's shirts. But she wore this shirt on her birthday and a ton of times since then. 

This was the last one to go in the mail. Again, don't you just think "2" says it all? (BTW, the terrible twos are SO MUCH FUN when you're the aunt and the spunkiness and attitude is just plain funny!)  :)

These shirts totally stretched my sewing ability to the limit. But it was a fun challenge and totally worth it!

Here's what I did: I began by attaching the fabric to iron on adhesive (Wonder Under or Heat n' Bond). Obviously you don't need much fabric. For the circle backgrounds, I just traced a small plate on the fabric and cut it out. The numbers and crowns were all done free hand. I draw them onto some stiff paper, cut them out and then trace them backwards onto the Heat n' Bond on the back of the fabric. I then ironed all the pieces on. Now the hard part (for me), I used a zig zag stitch and sewed around all the edges. (The 8 was the hardest--lots of curves). I think the sewing is necessary or the pieces will eventually start to peel off the shirt after several washings. But with the sewing, my daughter's 8 shirt has been washed over and over and it still looks brand new.