Spooky Shirts Behind the Scenes

 If you've been following my blog for a while, you've seen a few t-shirt projects. From t-shirt trick-or-treat bags to t-shirt memory quilts, to Jojo's "Free High Fives" t-shirt, I've found that the simple t-shirt can be transformed in many ways. 

This fall, Jojo and I decided to create some Halloween-themed t-shirts. (Find the tute here!)

I don't always dress up for Halloween - mostly because by the time I'm done helping 3 boys assemble their costumes (which typically includes several mind changings and start-overs!), I'm out of time and done with creative costuming. 

Enter the candy corn t-shirt! I can be festive without day of October 31st effort. :) 

Deciding how to lay out my candy corn pieces on the t-shirt surprisingly took me the most amount of time. I just couldn't decide! Here are some of the versions I played with. 

Scattered candy corn was my original idea. But as much as I tried to rearrange it and like it, I just didn't. 

Maybe? 

This looks like a sun.

More of a kaleidoscope look. Interesting.             

                                       Or maybe a quilty star? Yep, that's it!

Jojo decided that he wanted in on the fun as well, and chose to create some spooky eyes. I think it would be really fun to make these eyes glow in the dark. I haven't seen glow-in-the-dark t-shirts, but I imagine a coat or two of craft paint could create the same effect. 

A quick note about the appliques - you can absolutely use cotton scraps for your appliques. I choose to use t-shirts (as opposed to jersey off the bolt) for a couple reasons. 

1. This means the appliques have the same amount of stretch and the same texture as the shirt itself. 

2. Sometimes the color selection of available cotton jersey is lacking. But the t-shirt aisle has plenty of choices! 

3. I now have a stash of partially cut up t-shirts in a drawer that I save for other projects. Instant jersey stash! 

And a tip - don't skip the interfacing steps for your t-shirt. Having those extra layers on the stretchy jersey makes the whole process easier. You're not fighting stretch as you stitch, and your t-shirt won't get pulled out of shape. Trust me. 

I'm part of the Thermoweb Design Team and I used three Thermoweb products for this project - HeatnBond Soft Stretch Fusible Adhesive to secure the candy corn in place, HeatnBond Lightweight Fusible Interfacing to help manage the stretch, and Pressing Paper to protect my iron and project.

Find the tutorial for both shirts on Thermoweb's blog, here.