Applique Shirts

Last Fall, a friend gave us a big box of hand-me-downs for Dorothy.  Inside were some darling shorts, but no shirts that matched (or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to make matching shirts).  The shorts actually fit around her waist, which is pretty rare, so I came up with three shirts for her to wear with the shorts.

 

 These are the very cute watermelon shorts that I wanted to match.  I looked through the shirts I had on hand and found a plain red shirt that matched color-wise.

I already had the watermelon applique design for my machine.  The red fabric is a scrap from a dress I am currently making her (I cut it out a long time ago, and have just now started sewing it).  I also already had the green fabric for the rind, leftover from doing a few Kermit the Frog shirts.

 Close-up of the watermelon.  I need to practice with some different camera settings to get sharper pictures.

It looks great, and is perfect for her to wear to her baton twirling class.  She practicing the routine so she can march in the Forth of July parade next week.

 I love this little hedgehog!  She's so cute and happy.  My pink fabric isn't a perfect match, but it is close enough.

 I did have to buy this shirt but it is such a good match that it looks like it was made to go with these shorts.  I think the stripes and the pink binding give it some much needed interest.

The shorts are pink, but have a little yellow trim on them.  I was happy to find that the pinks and yellows were so close that they went together even though the shirt and shorts are different brands.

 I have been wanting a manatee design for a very long time, but most of the ones that I could find didn't look much like manatees.  I loved this one, but it didn't come in my machine's format, and it was huge.  It also cost more than I usually like to spend on designs, but there was simply nothing else out there, so I decided to give it a try and I would modify it.  I'm so glad I did!  It stitched out great even after all my tinkering.

I wasn't sure if I was really liking the green outline on the manatee that Dorothy picked out, but it matches the stripes in her shorts really well and we have gotten a few positive comments on her shirt already.  Malcolm likes it so much that he has asked for one, and I hope to finish his this weekend.  Manatee shirts might become a summer tradition for my kids.

I have one more pair of shorts to make a matching shirt for, but I haven't gotten out to get a shirt to match.  Malcolm has two shirt requests in and I have Dorothy's dress that needs to eventually be sewn to also finish, so we'll see if I get to another shirt for her or not.