Reverse Applique Gingerbread Shirt

A funny gingerbread man is the perfect Christmas t-shirt motif for the tough little man (or woman) in your life.  This is a shirt that I made for Clinton to wear this upcoming holiday season.  I haven't mailed it to him yet but he was excited about the picture that his mom showed him.  It's a fitting shirt because Clinton LOVES gingerbread cookies (or any cookies, for that matter) and he likes that it's silly.

For this project you will need:

1.a t-shirt ( I chose lime green; prewash and dry the shirt before starting)

2. brown fabric paint

3. 1/4 yard tan t-shirt knit fabric (prewash and dry before starting project)

4. red embroidery floss

5. red fabric paint

6. large sew-on googley eyes

7. freezer paper

8. 8" white ric-rac (small or medium size)

I started by drawing a gingerbread man with some bites missing on the dull side of freezer paper.

I cut out the center of the gingerbread man to make my stencil and ironed the shiny side of the freezer paper to the t-shirt.  I typically have my iron on high.

I painted my gingerbread man but didn't worry about painting all the way to the center as it will be cut out.

I took a rectangle of tan knit and pinned it behind the gingerbread man and pinned it in place. Make sure that the tiny rib lines on the knit are going the same directions as the tiny rib lines on the t-shirt.

Then, I sewed around the edge of the brown paint using the red embroidery floss.  This is a simple hand stitch that involves going up and down through the top layer of the t-shirt and the tan knit fabric. Make sure not to sew through the back layer of the shirt.

Then I trimmed the knit around the outside of the stitch line.  Since knit doesn't ravel there is no need to finish the edges of the tan fabric.

The gingerbread man all trimmed.

Then I turned the shirt to the right side and cut out the center of the gingerbread man.  I trimmed about 1/8" from the stitch line making sure to only cut through the top layer of the t-shirt.

The gingerbread man cut out.

I gave him some mismatched green and red buttons for decoration.

I then cut some pieces of white ric-rac for the arms and leg. I fray-checked the ends and sewed the pieces in place with red embroidery floss.

I painted a surprised, open-mouth expression on his face since he has been half eaten.

I hand-stitched around the mouth, added some big eyes to add to the surprised look, and it's complete.  You now have a cute Christmas t-shirt.

This is a fun, simple project for any skill level.  I hope you enjoy making it as much as I did!

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