It’s my grandson’s birthday soon and I wanted to make him a top to supplement his other gifts which are dinosaur themed, so the top needed a dinosaur!
I found a fun graphic which I imported into Cricut Design Space and added a shaped background layer to it, then printed it on to a fusible sheet and cut it out with the Cricut. All that remained was to make the top, which is the free Brindile & Twig Ringer Tee, such a great pattern!
I made him a matching card.
I liked this so much I wanted to make tops for my granddaughters, so went back to Creative Fabrica where I found this design and found one for the girls. I gave the graphic the same treatment, and printed out three of them.
I used the same pattern for the two older girls, and used fabric which was given to me by the wonderful ladies at the Australian Sewing Guild, Western Suburbs sewing group. A big box was delivered to my doorstep and the fabric for all these tops was in it, plus some more which I will be using soon.
My first versions are white as I want to check the fit. My granddaughters are heavily into matching so I made identical tops, although I had to use different white fabrics.
They look the same size but the front one is smaller, as is the graphic.
I also made one for my littlest granddaughter, but this time used the Kwik-Sew’s Sewing for Baby book, and chose the side opening neck pattern. I also added in the long sleeves.
It worked out really well and I used a small graphic on the front, although in retrospect I could have made the graphic bigger. The top is for a 6-12month old baby so should be perfect for winter as a layering piece and for spring as the weather warms up.
I added some size labels and also a “Made by Granny” label. I found a dinosaur font and a unicorn font so used them where appropriate.
I realise they are hard to see so here’s a zoomed in version
the dinosaurs are much more subtle
For the dinosaur top I decided to sew my label onto some tape and then handstitch it on as the neck seam is quite thick.
I was thrilled to be sent these photos of Miss G wearing her tee shirt on a recent trip to Rottnest Island.
I had to include this cute one of her petting a quokka.
This was taken when her dad took the tee shirts home. It was immediately tried on.
Here is a little video for your delight. Miss E playing with her puppy. She was previously a bit fearful of dogs, but Pepper has fixed that! This game went on for several minutes, but you get the idea.
Very cute shirts – they were quite happily received! Thanks for the picture of your lovely little with the quokka. I taught “Australia” one year in 3rd grade, but never encountered this delightful marsupial with the perpetual smile… so adorable!
thank you Lodi. Quokkas are almost exclusively found on Rottnest Island. Early Dutch settlers thought they were rats and that’s how the island got its name1 They are wild but are really used to people and are highly protected. They do have a smile!
Very cute t-shirts for the grandkids! You didn’t mention how you get the designs to stick to the fabric.
I’ve used another good sweatshirt pattern for my 7 year old granddaughter- Simplicity 8824
https://pattern-walk.com/product/simplicity-8824-girls-knit-dress-top-skirt-pants-size-3-4-5-6-7-8-uncut-sewing-pattern/
OOh thank you for the pattern suggestion, it will be a good alternative, particularly as it has lots of different patterns. I’ll wait for a sale.
I use Trans our Dream transfer paper, which you print on with an ink jet printer and then cut out the design, either with scissors or a cutting machine. Remove the backing and iron on. I have a heat press which really sinks it into the fabric, but an iron does work well.
Hi
The shirts are really nice and it is always rewarding seeing them worn with delight.
And we also got our spectator’s rewarding .
Big hugs to all
Jeannine
thank you Jeannine, I’m so glad you enjoy the reward! I had so much fun making these tops, and I’m sure there will be more.
I watched the video 5 times in a row-yes, it was absolutely delightful watching Pepper and grand baby playing! Even though the puppy ‘mouths’ her, the puppy is being so gentle that no harm is being done and grand baby enjoys the play-how utterly delightful. Thank you for sharing.
thank you Rachael, I’m so glad you liked the video. It goes on for a lot longer and was so utterly delightful. This little one was a bit scared of dogs so it’s nice to see the playing.