bridesmaid t-shirts: gold, anchors, adorable

bridesmaid t-shirts - iron-on jersey numbers

This must be Katie Week here at Fluffyland… I can’t help it, wedding crafting is so fun! I wanted to share the shirts I made for Katie and her bridesmaids. The seven of us spent a long weekend in South Carolina last month for her bachelorette party, and, of course, what’s a bachelorette party without kitschy matching t-shirts?

Of course, I try to keep things low on the kitsch-spectrum – well, most of the time – so my goal was to make these t-shirts as classy, and as wearable, as possible. I think I succeeded!

bridesmaid t-shirts - iron-on jersey numbers

It was February, so we decided on long sleeve shirts. I picked up black v-necks from Target because they’re always cheap, comfy, and they actually fit.

I used my Silhouette cutter (i have the Silhouette Portrait) and their heat transfer material in white and metallic gold. Again: classy.

The backs of the t-shirts feature our last names and a number, jersey style. How’d we pick numbers, you ask? Eliza found the great idea of using the number of years we’ve known the bride. I’m happy to say I tied for the longest on this one… besides Katie’s mom, of course, who was lucky enough to sport the number 24!

bridesmaid t-shirts - iron-on anchor

The front tied into our South Carolina island/beach theme with an anchor and the wedding date.

split anchor design with wedding date - silhouette iron-on

The names and numbers were simple: I just used the font Jersey M54 and picked a good size. For the anchor, I bought the design from the Silhouette online store (design #59132, “rope sailor & anchor”), then sliced it in half and added the wedding date in Bebas font. For Katie’s anchor on the white shirt, I layered a gold anchor outline with a white anchor on top, and that really helped set hers apart.

Don’t forget to turn your design into a mirror image before you cut it! The heat transfer material cuts sticky-side UP.

bridesmaid t-shirt - anchor iron-on

Once everything was cut, it was time to iron. Iron-ons aren’t my favorite, since each shirt has to be set up carefully and separately, but lately I’ve been listening to audiobooks in the sewing room and this makes a huge difference in the amount of patience I have for tedious tasks. In this case, after a few chapters of Bossypants and a few snack breaks, I had everything ironed.

Crucial ironing tips for Silhouette heat transfer:
– Make sure to use rulers and templates so everything is straight. I used my clear grid ruler for the back of the shirts, and I used a piece of tissue paper with the V-neck notch marked to make sure every anchor was in the same location on the front.
– Use a thin cotton cloth between your iron and the iron-on material.
– Make sure to iron each location for 1-2 minutes, and don’t slide the iron back and forth. Pick up the iron and set it down each time you need to move it.
– Make sure to pre-shrink your t-shirts before adding the iron-ons. Once your shirt is finished, make sure to always wash it on cold/cold and hang to dry.

bridesmaid t-shirts - iron-on names

On the morning of our Charleston excursion, I rolled up the shirts name-side out to present them to the girls. By that point, the shirts’ existence wasn’t a surprise for anyone but Katie, but nobody had seen the finished product. Katie was especially excited, but I think everyone was pleased to have a matchy t-shirt that was actually wearable. We had so much fun roaming around Charleston and bragging about Katie to everyone we met!

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6 Responses

  1. Aunt Jeanie says:

    Great job Sam!!!

  2. Brenda Garcia says:

    Such a great idea! they came out rly good. I’m getting married in August and wanted to DIY some cute shirts for the bridesmaids. thanks for the inspo.

    P.S. I’m also an engineer but of the electrical nature… so nice to see other female engineers out there, WOOT!

    love the blog, fosho will follow

  3. Maryliz says:

    I would like for you to explain me what s numbers means?? Gregg-6 Janis-11 Barrett-7 Lunde-11 Murphy-10 bridal-00. Can you explain this for me.. I was figure it out what’s that mean.. thank youll

    • Samantha says:

      Maryliz – the numbers were the number of years we’d known the bride! The 10 and 11’s were high school friends, 7 and 6’s college friends. It was a cute way to give each of our shirts a little more difference.

  1. October 10, 2017

    […] original Silhouette, but the Silhouette Portrait is today’s comparable model. The post for the shirts I made for Katie’s bachelorette has my tips and tricks for working with Silhouette heat transfer, but here’s the big one: […]

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