About three years ago I was on a silhouette-kick.
Now I’m back on it. :) In the form of personalized shirts!
This was a fun little afternoon project. I love quick and easy projects, and this was one. I made a shirt for each of my daughters, but with a few changes it could be boy-friendly as well.
Here’s a little tutorial.
Supplies needed:
~ white t-shirts
~ black felt ( as used in example) or your choice of colored fabric)
~ iron-on adhesive
~ picture on a computer
~paper & pencil & scissors
~ iron
~ sewing machine
1. Take a side-profile picture against a bright background, such as outside your front door.
This will be the look of your silhouette, so if you want a high up-do, make sure you do that before the picture unless you like to free-hand it later.
2. Hold a piece of printer paper, or other very lightweight paper, against the computer screen and trace.
You can choose the size of your silhouette at this point – very large, very small, depending on how much you enlarge/zoom the picture on your computer.
3. Cut out the picture, and trace onto iron-on adhesive. Cut out the adhesive in a square-ish size, then iron the adhesive onto the fabric. Cut out your silhouette.
4. Center the silhouette and iron onto the shirt, following the directions on your iron-on adhesive package.
I bought shirts at Walmart, for a cheap $3.47. If you’d want a better quality then go elsewhere, but these are great and cheap. :)
5. Top-stitch the silhouettes for a clean finish, using black thread on the top AND bottom.
Normally I use a white thread on the bottom so it’s a clean look underneath, but with the black fabric it will show the white thread if you do.
If you want to add a little embellishment, you may! I made a bow with ribbon I already had, and hand-stitched it in place.
And the finished project! It’s just so fun when it turns out well, and I’m not the only one happy. :) My girls were delighted too, and we’ve paired them with light pink tutus for a fun outfit.
I think this would also be super cute in a hot-pink fabric for girls, or aqua for boys, for a modern take on the silhouette. A solid color works better to show the details on the silhouette; a patterned fabric would hide those cute little noses or other small things quite a bit. :)
Happy projecting! :)
This is seriously adorable!!
That is really adorable… (so are your girls!). This has me inspired. I’ve been meaning to do something silhouettey for awhile now and this might be it. :)
Yay! I hope you do try it! :) It was such a fun easy project! The hardest part is getting a kiddo to hold still long enough to take a good side-profile shot! :)
very clever. and fun too:-)
Love it! You have a way of making projects look so easy peasy. Thanks for the directions. Definitely want to try this.
I hope you do try it! It’s so fun to see a silhouette of your very own darling. :)
i love it!
So creative!! Love this!
that last picture so speaks to me! i love, love, love how you added the 3-D bows. that is just the perfect touch. this is a project i would love to try, but this kind of thing never goes well for me. i know my sillouettes would look like george washington instead of my beautiful girls. actually if they turned out like george washington that might be a compliment. so- i will just look at yours and pine away.
i have said it a 100 times, but i have about 5 blogs that make my day when they post and you are one of them. so thanks for this today. :) it, shall we say, “made my day”. ;)
Seriously, Jenny, you are SO uber creative and could do this in a flash! I like the felt because it doesn’t fray and change the look of the profile like some other fabrics. It’s really not hard. And hey, if it turns out like George Washington, just make it into a boy shirt and say you’re educating your son. :) Ha!
cute sisters. love it!
This is so crazy darling! I keep wanting to pin something from every blog post you do so I can remember it. ;) I still haven’t even made the pinwheels I was wanting to try. Your girls are so, so beautiful! I wish I could meet them. :)
I wish you could meet my girls too! Just like I want to meet your boys! :)
Your and your projects never cease to amaze me. These shirts are a.dor.a.ble. I just feel proud that I finally made a wall silhouette for Sophia to match the two you made for the other children . . . and well, I might just leave it at that. :)
Love it! I want to make these with my girls. Such a cute idea. :)
Such a cute project!
Love! So adorable!