Posted in Crafts, Creative Life, Easy Crafts to Make, littlegirldesigns.com

Make an Owl Iron-on T-shirt

Make your own owl iron-on tshirt with this adorable pattern! @littlegirldesigns.com #owl #babyclothes

Learn how to make a simple owl iron-on t-shirt by repurposing a baby onesie. So cute!

I was rummaging through my craft drawers a couple of weeks ago looking for something when I came across a wonderful book of iron-on transfers that I had completely forgotten about. There was an owl in particular that I thought was cute, but I wasn’t sure what shirt I could use them on for my daughter. It is hard to find plain t-shirts these days for toddlers and to be honest, I just wanted to make a project rather than go out and buy something.

That’s when I realized I could probably use some plain onesies that I had purchased several years ago. I love embroidering onesies as gifts for baby showers and have several left in my craft drawers. I pulled out the largest one I could find and slipped it over my daughter’s head and it fit. Well, it almost fit. She’s too tall for it to snap so I figured I would cut the bottom off and make a t-shirt. Problem solved!

Make An Owl Iron-on T-shirt

You will need:

White onesie
Stitch Witchery
Scissors
Iron
Iron-on transfer (I used the owl from this book)
Embroidery floss in matching colors (I used teal and brown)
Embroidery needle
Transfer pen
Embroidery hoop

Make your own owl iron-on tshirt with this adorable pattern! @dev.jenniemoraitis.com #owl #babyclothes

First, I prepared the t-shirt. I cut the bottom of the onesie right above the leg openings. Then I turned the edges of the shirt under and ironed them to give them a crisp edge. This also allowed me to make sure the edge was straight before I sealed them with Stitch Witchery.

 

Make your own owl iron-on tshirt with this adorable pattern! @dev.jenniemoraitis.com #owl #babyclothes

Since I don’t have a sewing machine that would survive this fabric and because I love Stitch Witchery, I decided to go that route rather than hem the bottom of the t-shirt. I tore off pieces of Stitch Witchery and tucked them in the “hem”. Then I ironed the fabric to seal the hem. I forgot to take a picture of this part, but hopefully this makes sense.

 

Make your own owl iron-on tshirt with this adorable pattern! @dev.jenniemoraitis.com #owl #babyclothes

Next was the fun part! I cut out the owl transfer and positioned it on the t-shirt. I knew I wanted to embellish the owl with a branch and some leaves so I made sure that it was positioned so I could do that. I followed the instructions on the iron-on transfer packaging and found that 30 seconds of ironing did the trick for this particular transfer. It did crinkle a little bit so maybe next time I’ll cut down the time a bit. After letting it cool for a couple of minutes, I peeled off the paper, and wow, why have I never done this before?! It was so cool!

 

Make your own owl iron-on tshirt with this adorable pattern! @dev.jenniemoraitis.com #owl #babyclothes

At this point, I took out my transfer pen and drew a branch and several leaves under the owl. I put the t-shirt in an embroidery hoop and used a back stitch to “draw” the branches and leaves. (See how to back stitch here.) After I was finished, I rinsed the ink from the transfer pen off and let the shirt dry completely.

Make your own owl iron-on tshirt with this adorable pattern! @dev.jenniemoraitis.com #owl #babyclothes

I love how quickly this project came together and how satisfying it was since most of the difficult work was done by the cute design in the transfer.

Have you ever created a project using iron-on transfers? Where do you get your plain t-shirts? I’d love to know! Now I’m off to find more blank surfaces to embellish.

Have a lovely {and creative} day!

31 thoughts on “Make an Owl Iron-on T-shirt”

  5. What an adorable shirt. My bff hosted an iron-on-onesie baby shower for me. We all sat together and made clothing for my soon-to-be-born baby girl. This would have been a precious idea.

    1. What an awesome baby shower activity–so creative! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and congratulations!

    1. Ah, thanks! It really is a simple project, promise! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

    1. I think you’ll like it! 🙂 The only sad part is how fast munchkins grow out of these cute outfits! :/

    1. Thanks so much, Samantha. I love your party–always get so much inspiration of things to do with my daughter. 🙂

    1. Yay! Let me know how it turns out! I was surprised how easy it was to do an iron on (where have I been?!) Have a great day!

  15. So adorable! The stitched branch makes is so unique. My daughter is just learning some sewing so this type of project would be perfect for her — now to find a dolphin iron-on since it’s her favorite (I bet she could sew on some waves 😉

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