Free Jungle Animals Baby T Shirts Tutorial

This weekend has been so spring-like.  I have been out in the garden generally tidying up and painting my new pergola roof in anticipation of happy hours spent outside this summer.  And I’ve also been adding to my little grandson’s summer wardrobe.  Rosie happened to mention that he was growing so fast he’d soon be in the next size up so she’d have to get some new little outfits for him.  Aha!  I thought – a chance for me to enjoy customising some inexpensive plain tops for him……

And this is what I came up with.  If you’d like to create your own customised Jungle Animals Baby TShirts then here’s the tutorial for you ..|

You will need:

• Two plain baby tshirts (pre-wash if you’re unsure about shrinkage)
• Scraps of cotton fabric in oranges, blacks and white
• Bondaweb
• Temporary fabric marker pen
• Embroidery foot for your sewing machine
• Black thread for your needle and cream or white for your bobbin.

Note:   You will not need a ballpoint needle as the bondaweb stabilises the jersey fabric and you will be stitching down through the cotton.

CLICK HERE to download the applique templates.  They are the size I used, but do check how they look on your tshirts and resize if necessary.

Method:

• Iron the T shirts and begin with the lion.
• Trace the lion’s body, mane and face onto the paper side of the bondaweb.  Notice how the face and mane are created – the mane is a single shape and then the face sits on top.
• Cut out the paper shapes roughly, then fuse onto the reverse side of your fabric.  Cut out carefully making sure the edges are nice and smooth.  Peel off the paper backing and position the mane and body onto your first t shirt.
• When you’re happy with the positioning fuse into place with a hot iron, protecting your work with a cloth if necessary.  Now add the face, ears, nose and end of his tail in the same way.
• Draw his features with your temporary fabric marker pen.
• Fit the embroidery foot to your sewing machine and drop the feed dogs.  Remember you can stitch in any direction with this technique so it’s really quite easy to stitch around the outline of your applique shapes even though you’re working on such a small garment.  Go around the edge of each shape twice – not too neatly, you’re aiming for a sort of scribbled effect.
• Using your marker lines as guidance “draw” in the features and body outlines with your needle.
• When finished remove the temporary fabric marker lines and press.

• The tiger is worked in exactly the same way except that his body is cut all in one piece.

And that’s all there is to it … two lovely jungle animal t shirts for my baby grandson – and the special baby in your life too!