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