Cupcake and Butterfly Appliques

 As many of you may know by now, I have been blessed with an amazing BFF whose daughter is 1 1/2 years older than mine, which means we get lots of great hand-me-downs for my princess. She just loves it when I bring home a bag of clothes, and so do I! Recently, among the stash of 3T spring items was this adorable t-shirt with a sequined cupcake applique. Unfortunately, it had a few stains on it, and since I've never been a fan of white t-shirts, I figured instead of trying to remove those stains, I'd just salvage the cup cake. With three active boys, can you guess why I'm not fan of white clothing?

 Cutting out the cup cake was easy with a pair of small sewing scissors, but I thought it was so adorable that I didn't want to merely reuse this one but create a pattern to make some of my own cup cake appliques. I traced each part onto paper, and you are welcome to use this pattern now too. Just print up this photo, making sure your scale matches the ruler in the picture.

Next, I pulled out the shirts I've bought on sale along with all my fabric scraps to determine which shirt and fabrics would match together best. I chose the teal shirt for the sequenced cup cake, but since that shirt won't fit my daughter for another year, I decided not to sew on the cup cake until next fall. I then remembered I had three yellow shirts I had bought brand new from a friend who is a personal shopper. I love buying bargains from her! Well, these shirts came in a 3T, 4T, and 5T, so I new immediately that they would be perfect for my BFF and my next sewing project. 

However, she wasn't going to be able to sew with me this week since she was babysitting my princess while I had an appointment. Instead of holding off on this craft, I figured I'd just make the three shirts on my own as a thank you for babysitting present. Never mind all the free clothes she and her sister keep giving me. Have I mentioned that her sister also has a four-year-old daughter?

I decided on the five colors for the cup cake, but my husband, who had been patiently watching me pull out fabrics and most likely wondering when I'd get to the pile of clothes with torn seams and missing buttons, suggested a cute striped fabric for the cupcake itself. That way, instead of it looking like a chocolate cupcake, it looks like it's in a cute paper cup cake liner. Okay, off topic, but typing the word cup cake so often just reminded me of how my middle two boys would call them"pup tates." I thought it was so cute that I refused to correct them. Then one day, when my boys were about 6 and 7, my oldest son insisted on teaching them the right way to pronounce the word. He said they'd be made fun of for calling them "pup tates" at school. Perhaps he was right, but I was so sad. Would it make me a bad mother if I teach my daughter to call them "pup tates?" 

To make these cute little appliques, I traced my pattern onto my Steam-a-Seam2 and then applied it to the back of each fabric swatch. Then I cut out the fabric, peeled off the other side of the Steam-a-Seam2 and adhered each piece to the shirt. Lastly, I ironed the applique to the shirt. Doesn't it look cute already? 

However, knowing some of these fabrics would fray and to create a professional look, I decided to stitch around the fabric. I used a straight stitch for the cherry, but I decided to try the zipper stitch for the stem. It was the perfect size, so I used it on the entire cup cake, liner and all. 

Now isn't this an adorable shirt? I can't wait to give it to my BFF!

While I had all my fabric scraps out, I decided to create a cute butterfly applique for a hot pink long-sleeved shirt I had in my pile. That's more important than repairing my husband's shirt for work, right? I created a butterfly template that required three colors. Again, you are welcome to use it by copying, pasting, and possibly resizing this picture.

 Following the same steps on my Steam-A-Seam2 instructions, I created this applique, only it required that I stack my three different patterns. I then used my zipper stitch on the butterfly and to create its antennae. Are they called antennae on butterflies? 

You can also sew a straight stitch around the butterfly if you are nervous about staying on the applique's edge. It is much faster, but test out the fabric you've selected first. When you pre-washed it, how badly did the cut ends fray? If they did fray, they will start to fray a little on your applique. Try not to put this shirt in the dryer to help prevent the fraying.  

However, if you choose to sew with a zig-zag or zipper stitch as I did, be careful not to sew off the edge of the applique as that can force tiny holes into the cotton t-shirt. As you can see from my finished photo, I'm still no expert at sewing around the applique, but I like the finished look of it though I've seen plenty of bloggers who don't sew any stitch around it. My concern there would be in durability with excessive wear. 

When I was finished, my daughter saw it and immediately loved it. Of course, my daughter loves all things pink! If you are new to creating and sewing your own appliques, these are both easy ones to try for a little girl in your life. Enjoy!  

 


I'll be sharing this post at some of these parties here.  

 As many of you may know by now, I have been blessed with an amazing BFF whose daughter is 1 1/2 years older than mine, which means we get lots of great hand-me-downs for my princess. She just loves it when I bring home a bag of clothes, and so do I! Recently, among the stash of 3T spring items was this adorable t-shirt with a sequined cupcake applique. Unfortunately, it had a few stains on it, and since I've never been a fan of white t-shirts, I figured instead of trying to remove those stains, I'd just salvage the cup cake. With three active boys, can you guess why I'm not fan of white clothing?

 Cutting out the cup cake was easy with a pair of small sewing scissors, but I thought it was so adorable that I didn't want to merely reuse this one but create a pattern to make some of my own cup cake appliques. I traced each part onto paper, and you are welcome to use this pattern now too. Just print up this photo, making sure your scale matches the ruler in the picture.

Next, I pulled out the shirts I've bought on sale along with all my fabric scraps to determine which shirt and fabrics would match together best. I chose the teal shirt for the sequenced cup cake, but since that shirt won't fit my daughter for another year, I decided not to sew on the cup cake until next fall. I then remembered I had three yellow shirts I had bought brand new from a friend who is a personal shopper. I love buying bargains from her! Well, these shirts came in a 3T, 4T, and 5T, so I new immediately that they would be perfect for my BFF and my next sewing project. 

However, she wasn't going to be able to sew with me this week since she was babysitting my princess while I had an appointment. Instead of holding off on this craft, I figured I'd just make the three shirts on my own as a thank you for babysitting present. Never mind all the free clothes she and her sister keep giving me. Have I mentioned that her sister also has a four-year-old daughter?

I decided on the five colors for the cup cake, but my husband, who had been patiently watching me pull out fabrics and most likely wondering when I'd get to the pile of clothes with torn seams and missing buttons, suggested a cute striped fabric for the cupcake itself. That way, instead of it looking like a chocolate cupcake, it looks like it's in a cute paper cup cake liner. Okay, off topic, but typing the word cup cake so often just reminded me of how my middle two boys would call them"pup tates." I thought it was so cute that I refused to correct them. Then one day, when my boys were about 6 and 7, my oldest son insisted on teaching them the right way to pronounce the word. He said they'd be made fun of for calling them "pup tates" at school. Perhaps he was right, but I was so sad. Would it make me a bad mother if I teach my daughter to call them "pup tates?" 

To make these cute little appliques, I traced my pattern onto my Steam-a-Seam2 and then applied it to the back of each fabric swatch. Then I cut out the fabric, peeled off the other side of the Steam-a-Seam2 and adhered each piece to the shirt. Lastly, I ironed the applique to the shirt. Doesn't it look cute already? 

However, knowing some of these fabrics would fray and to create a professional look, I decided to stitch around the fabric. I used a straight stitch for the cherry, but I decided to try the zipper stitch for the stem. It was the perfect size, so I used it on the entire cup cake, liner and all. 

Now isn't this an adorable shirt? I can't wait to give it to my BFF!

While I had all my fabric scraps out, I decided to create a cute butterfly applique for a hot pink long-sleeved shirt I had in my pile. That's more important than repairing my husband's shirt for work, right? I created a butterfly template that required three colors. Again, you are welcome to use it by copying, pasting, and possibly resizing this picture.

 Following the same steps on my Steam-A-Seam2 instructions, I created this applique, only it required that I stack my three different patterns. I then used my zipper stitch on the butterfly and to create its antennae. Are they called antennae on butterflies? 

You can also sew a straight stitch around the butterfly if you are nervous about staying on the applique's edge. It is much faster, but test out the fabric you've selected first. When you pre-washed it, how badly did the cut ends fray? If they did fray, they will start to fray a little on your applique. Try not to put this shirt in the dryer to help prevent the fraying.  

However, if you choose to sew with a zig-zag or zipper stitch as I did, be careful not to sew off the edge of the applique as that can force tiny holes into the cotton t-shirt. As you can see from my finished photo, I'm still no expert at sewing around the applique, but I like the finished look of it though I've seen plenty of bloggers who don't sew any stitch around it. My concern there would be in durability with excessive wear. 

When I was finished, my daughter saw it and immediately loved it. Of course, my daughter loves all things pink! If you are new to creating and sewing your own appliques, these are both easy ones to try for a little girl in your life. Enjoy!  

 


I'll be sharing this post at some of these parties here.