The Perfect Little Package

Heidi Sage is similar to me, in that she likes sparkly stuff.  I knew when I saw this little shirt at Target with the metallic thread running through it, she'd love it!  I liked the shirt and thought the flowers were cute, but I didn't think they looked quite right on the shirt, so I decided to do something else with this little shirt.

For this project you will need:

1.  1 t-shirt (prewash and dry)

2.  thread

3.  knit fabric (prewash and dry)

I very carefully removed the flowers, making sure not to damage them or the shirt.  I saved the flowers because I'm sure I'll find something to do with them later.  Then I washed and dried the shirt, ironed it, and there were no traces of any stitching marks.

I then took some gold sweater knit that I found at my local fabric store and cut it into a strip.  I serged (you could also use a lightning stitch or a narrow zig-zag) the edge of the strip, turned it inside out and made a tube.

I took the tube and serged the ends together creating a circular piece.

The circular piece will soon become a cute little bow.  Don't worry about the serged line, it will get covered in the upcoming steps.

I laid the circular piece flat (with the seam in the center) and centered it across the chest of the t-shirt.  I then pinned it in place.

The circular piece is ready to be sewed in place.

Using the machine I very carefully sewed the circular piece in place.  I sewed at the far edges so that when the bow was complete it wouldn't flop away from the shirt.  Sew carefully making sure to only sew through one layer of the bow circle and one layer of the t-shirt.

Once I sewed the circle in place, I scrunched the middle of the piece to create the bow shape.

I then sewed the pinch in the center to hold it in place.

The pinch sewed in the center of the bow.

I then created the center of the bow.  I cut a small rectangular piece of knit.

I folded the edges of the rectangle to create a tube, so that the raw edges wouldn't show.

The tube is made.  The seam on the back with be enclosed around the bow center.

I then folded the end under to make sure the raw edges would end up being covered.  Once I had everything in place, I sewed the end to the back side of the bow pinch.

I then wrapped the tube around, making sure to cover all the raw edges.  If needed, cut off the extra length from your tube, making sure to leave enough fabric to turn under the raw edges.  Sew in place.

The bow is sewn.

For extra security, I made sure to add a few hand stitches around the knot in the center of the bow.  This makes sure the bow stays in place and doesn't fall away from the shirt.  It can also help to make sure your pinch looks the same on both sides.

The finished shirt.

A few short  steps made this cute little shirt the perfect sparkly wrapping for cute little Heidi Sage!

Happy Wrapping,

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