Wednesday, July 20, 2011

More about the eagle T-Shirt


kbenco is right (thanks for your comment), I was not very generous with information on the reverse applique. The backing fabric is the same quality as the T-Shirt fabric (I bought two T-Shirts of the same brand). The whole method is explained in this book: http://alabamachanin.com/books/alabama-stitch-book
There is lots of inspiration in the book, but the method can more or less be figured out by looking at a (good) photo. I found the eagle stencil googling "eagle stencil". I would like to design my own stencil - "next time". I applied the fabric paint with a sponge, that worked better than what I tried with a brush on a sample, but a spray bottle would probably be best. Then I stitched around all shapes by hand, through the top and backing layer, using double thread. I left the knots on the right side, as suggested in the book, as that reminds me of feathers. Finally you cut out the inside of the shapes until about 5 mm from the stitching line, careful not to cut through the backing fabric. And trim away the excess fabric on the inside of the T-Shirt. The eagle head in the photo is about 30 cm wide. Here is a photo of the inside of the T-Shirt. The fabric is actually white, but I took the photos late in the evening.


By the way I did all the stitching while DH was watching the Tour de France, I sat right behind him at the dining table, and I was glad - but not surprised - that he did not ask what I was doing.

1 comment:

kbenco said...

Thanks for the additional information. I fancy trying this, it looks great.

We have been watching the Tour de France as well- but I am knitting. Go Cadel!