The Kite Shirt

Having children has made me do things I never imagined before. Things like childbirth. Picking cribs. Pureeing peaches and peas. And making a kite applique for a 3T tank top. You see, my toddler had her heart set on a zoo party for her birthday. Our guest list was originally a little bit high for what the zoo could allow, so we had to figure something else out. We decided on a picnic and kite flying. She decided she wanted to wear her red and purple pettiskirt (her "gown"), so I decided to make something cute for her to wear with it.

At least, in my mind it was cute. And, you know, it isn't that bad. For a first timer, it isn't the worst thing ever. I wouldn't pay someone for this, but I made it for my child! I started by asking some local mom friends if it was as easy as I thought it seemed. They assured me that it was.

I bought four fat quarters, red thread, ric rac, wonder under and some stabilizer. First, I cut strips off the fat quarters and sewed them together. Then, I pressed the fabric to the wonder under. Wonder under, for other newbies, is an interfacing that allows one piece of fabric to stick to another. Then, I figured out the size of the kite I wanted and made a pattern out of computer paper. I traced it onto the wonder under and cut it out. Then, I accidentally forgot to peel the backing off the wonder under and tried pressing it again. So, that's what the ink mark on the right hand side of the photo below is. Oops.

After I remembered to peel the backing, I tucked the ric rac under and pressed it again. Then, I pinned the stabilizer to the inside of the shirt. The stabilizer was supposed to keep the shirt from stretching and pulling as I sewed. I did my zig zag and accidentally stitched the shirt to itself. Oops. I ripped out the stitches (with my seam ripper!) and started over. Obviously, my stitches are not even or very pretty. And you can see in one spot where the shirt wrinkled and I made a pucker. Oops. When I tried to rip the stabilizer out after I was done sewing, I ended up ripping some stitches, too. Whoopsie.

I consoled myself by saying, "It only has to be worn for the party. It doesn't matter that it isn't the prettiest thing, either, because she'll love that it is a kite shirt." If I were doing it again, I'd take my friend Jackie's advice and press the edges under themselves to create a faux seam before applying the wonder under to the applique. That would seal the edges underneath so it wouldn't fray and would enable me to do a prettier stitch than a zig zag. So, here's a close up of the finished product.


Oh and for those wondering how the kite shirt went over... She loved it so much that she put it on well before the party. And like the other things, something else happened that I never imagined I'd deal with. It, too, sort of goes along with motherhood. The shirt was a casualty to a potty training accident. She didn't get to wear it for the party. Instead, she wore her backup plain white tank. Oops.