St. Patrick's Day T Shirt Applique instructions

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!  Show your GREEN with a simple shamrock applique on a regular T Shirt.  

Materials you will need:


a t shirt (I used black)
some green fabric
shamrock clip art printed out on paper 
scissors
green thread
green sequins
fray check


Step 1.  Print out some Shamrock shapes.  Download some shamrock shapes from the internet and print them in various sizes on regular paper.   (go to www.google.com, at the top of the page choose "images", next type in "shamrock clipart", enter.  You will have a variety of images to choose from.)

Step 2.  Cut the shamrocks out on paper to use as templates for tracing on to fabric.  I recommend that you pin the paper templates to your shirt while wearing it to see where the best placement will be. 

Step 3.  Choose your fabric. I looked at my stash of fabric and I chose this green satin/lining fabric.  It's shiny and festive and VERY green.  I used the paper template and traced the shapes on to the fabric with a black felt pen (magic marker- I used a medium point).

The tracing came through on the front as well, which is fine, because the tracing is not going to show, the trim will cover it up.

Step 4 Choose some trim.  I wanted my shamrock to be blinged out, so I looked in my stash of sequins and I found some green.    

Step 5  Cut out your fabric Shamrock.  Please notice that I did NOT trim to the very edge of the shamrock.  I intended to fold in under as I attached it so that it would not fray and also to give it a little bit of a puffy-ness.  This worked out great for me.  

Step 6 Fray check your fabric (if needed).  This green was sure to fray, so I applied Fray Check to the edges and let it dry before attaching it to my shirt.  You can see the dried fray check around the edges.  

Step 7 Sew on the Shamrock and sequins/trim.  Turn the edges of the shamrock under as you on the sequin/trim strip by hand, adjusting as you go.



Alternate idea: If you want to cut your shamrock to the edge, I recommend that you apply some iron on bonding to your applique and iron it on to the t shirt before applying your trim.  Either way would look great.  

Once it was done, I ironed it inside out to get out any wrinkles.

My t shirt is very stretchy, so it looks a little puckered when laying flat, but when I have it on, it looks smooth.  

Step 8 Enjoy your new shirt!


There you have it!  A very fun and festive and completely unique St. Patricks Day T Shirt, designed and created by YOU!  Please feel free to email me with any questions, I would be happy to help if I can.  steph@luluscottage.com