How to Custom-Embellish a Shirt

comments (5) December 6th, 2008

Pin It

Lee Meredith, contributor

21 users recommend

This is much better than that boring blue shirt with the white buttons!

Using a custom fabric ink color, rather than plain black or white, makes for a more personal print.

You could also do a few lines with different-colored thread for more excitement.

This is much better than that boring blue shirt with the white buttons!

Photo: Lee Meredith

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 All

Add Comment
Print

I love clothes, but I don't love spending tons of money on them—my favorite clothes are the ones that came from thrift stores, which I then cut up and reconstructed, added embellishments to, and/or printed on. If there's a person on your gift list who also loves original clothes that have been touched by crafty hands, a remade or drastically embellished shirt will be a great present! There are tons of ways to embellish a shirt—I'm showing you three here, and at the end I'll talk about some more options.

For the embellishments I did, you'll need:

A button-down shirt
Fabric paint and printing supplies, which depend on printing method
Buttons the same size as the original shirt's buttons
Needle and thread
Sewing machine with thread contrasting to the color of the shirt

You have two options for getting the right shirt to start with—if you live with the person or have sneaky access to their closet, find a boring shirt that you never see them wear but you know fits well, or pick a shirt that they do wear because it's comfy but they complain that it's boring... you get the idea. If you already know they like the fit, then that's one obstacle with a clothing gift that you've avoided. If raiding their closet is not an option, you'll have to go shopping and find a shirt that you're pretty sure will be the right fit—good luck!

My example project was made for myself, using a boring shirt I used to wear to my old day job but haven't worn since I left.

Now on to the fun stuff! I started with a screen print, made with stencils from Lotta Jansdotter designs.

I chose to place my print so it wraps around the side of the shirt to the back, for a more three-dimensional look.

I did a post on the Threadbanger blog a while back with a roundup of all the different fabric-printing methods I could gather, from stenciling to stamping to block printing to bleach, so check that out if you're new to printing or want to try out a new method. The technique that first got me into printing, which I think is the easiest to start out with, is freezer paper stenciling—I wrote a tutorial on my own blog for a kid-friendly version of that method (meaning no X-Zcto knife).

To do a freezer paper stencil print, all you need is freezer paper, a cutting tool, an iron, fabric paint, and a paintbrush.

The order you choose to do each embellishment is up to you, but if you start with printing as I did, you'll need to let it dry completely before moving on, of course. And don't forget to heat-set the fabric paint before wrapping up your gift! (Heat-setting directions should be on your fabric paint label.) Next, I replaced all the old, boring buttons with new, yellow-green ones, using orange thread for some extra pop!

Before sewing on all the buttons, make sure they fit through the buttonholes—better safe than sorry!

I will never button that last, highest button, so I decided to put a bigger one in that spot, just for a nice extra detail.

Little details like this will make the already-cool gift even more interesting.

My third touch was machine topstitching on the side opposite of the printing. You don't need any kind of special machine to do basic decorative topstitching, but it is a good idea to practice your design on similar fabric first if you're new to it. You'll want to use a thread color that will stand out on the shirt fabric, and thread that's a little extra thick will help, too. Use a straight stitch, short to medium stitch length, and be sure your tension is good. Then, as you're sewing (slowly!), hold the fabric flat with even tension with both hands and guide it steadily to make your design.

Hold it smooth like this with both hands (my other hand had to hold the camera).

If you want to keep it easy, designs consisting of straight lines are the best. Here are some examples of straight-line topstitching I've done:

Zigzag pattern—just go forward, then reverse back if the lines aren't that long.

Rectangular loops—each time you want to turn, stop with your needle in the fabric, lift the foot, and turn 90 degrees.

Wavy designs are not that hard, but full-on loops or circles can be tricky and you should go very slowly.

Simple waves are easy to topstitch, but curving all the way around is harder.

For my shirt I did mostly simple waves, but I threw in a couple of loops to add interest. I started at the button band next to the pocket, stitched around the pocket once, then a loop above the pocket, then back around to the bottom, intersecting with the first line, another loop below, and waved down to the shirt bottom.

You could also do a few lines with different-colored thread for more excitement.

So those are the three things I did—I think more than that would make any shirt too busy. And the orange theme ties together all three elements, keeping the shirt from looking overdone.

This is much better than that boring blue shirt with the white buttons!

If you're not into the printing idea, a great replacement would be appliqué! There are lots of great appliqué tutorials on the Web, like this super-simple one by CraftStylish contributor Susan Beal. And instead of machine topstitching, you could definitely choose to do embroidery! Of course, you may also decide to keep it simpler and choose only one or two of the embellishment methods. This project is great for men's shirts, too, but you'd probably want to stick with either only printing or only topstitching for most guys. Or you might find a great shirt that's not a button-down style, so you can stick to just printing and stitching, or whatever you want... The idea is to make a shirt that comes from your crafty heart, so use whatever methods will best suit that purpose!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 All

Did you make this?
After you make this project, show off your work to other members!
Post your project in the gallery

posted in: fabric, wearable, thread, buttons, shirt, top, printing

Add Comment Print

How to Make the Perfect Hostess Gift

Back to List

How to Make a Machine-Embroidered Felted Wool Tote

Comments (5)

Jennia writes: Great idea!!! Your top stitching is really beautiful. I would have to practice many hours to work as well as you do!
Posted: 12:31 pm on June 18th

sophiecai writes: talented......thanks for sharing
Posted: 11:15 am on February 15th

whimsy_chidori writes: Awsome idea. Thanks for the how to's on sewing loops and swirls. :D
Posted: 11:44 pm on May 7th

popoagie writes: Cool idea. I may make some version of this to jazz up some hand me down men's shirts for my teenage son playing off his personal interests.
Posted: 8:46 pm on January 25th