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Give longer life to your cutest kids shirts

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How to make an iron-on from fabric you already have.

When I saw Mike Adamick, local dad and writer, on an afternoon talk show talking about decorating cute shirts for his daughter, I thought it was unlikely I’d learn something new. I mean, I’ve already written about decorating onesies in just about every way I can think of. But behold, Mike taught me yet another technique.

He uses fusible webbing to adhere the fabric of his choice, say a giraffe-shaped piece of floral print, to the shirt he is embellishing.

mike adamick tshirt
Before you panic and think that as a not-so-crafty person you are totally unqualified to purchase something called “fusible webbing”, let me assure you that it’s not such a big deal. Purchase it by the yard at a fabric store, or in a package from Amazon, and it comes with instructions. (Ten bucks for five yards worth on Amazon.) The magic is that you iron it to one piece of fabric, peel off the paper, and then iron it to the other side. Now the two fabrics are adhered. (Keep scrolling for pictures.)

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I had cut this guitar from a hipster kid t-shirt that Julian outgrew and tossed it into my “to do something with someday” pile, throwing the rest of the shirt into the rag bag.

Next, I took scissors to the aforementioned fusible webbing cut. To produce a piece exactly the size of the guitar-shaped piece of t-shirt I wanted to use, I placed the fabric on the webbing in order to cut.

Then, I ironed the guitar to the fusible webbing, and let it cool. I had decided that this red long-sleeved polo, bought by my MIL as a Christmas shirt, would be the recipient of our applique.

Then, I peeled off the paper to reveal a ready-to-iron-on applique. I placed the applique on the shirt and ironed.

Now a well-loved shirt has a new life, and a once plain long-sleeved polo shirt has more personality.

Voila! See more inspiration on Mike’s blog.

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  2. That guitar shirt is so awesome! I want one, too! I bet he loves it.

    One quick time saver: Iron on the webbing before you cut out the applique — that way you don’t have to spend time trying to make the webbing match the applique. Once you cut out the design, the webbing will already be attached to it in the precise shape. Hope that makes sense?

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  3. another tip: use a new piece of parchment paper for every step between the iron an the fusible webbing. otherwise you often get threads (right word?)
    and if you have some, try to take them off as long as they are warm. otherwise they will stay.

    sorry for the grammar and greetings from vienna, austria

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  5. I just used a similar method to make a Bday T for my son. I printed out a nice shaped “3” on my computer, traced it on to some webbing, ironed it to the wrong side of the fabric, cut it out, peeled off the backing and applied to a Tshirt. I stitched around the edges on my machine for extra security, but it probably wasn’t necessary.

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  7. Great idea!! I’m also going to take cute prints off mine or my husbands shirts to spruce up outfits. Will the iron on idea work on button down dress shirt material or is that too fine?

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  2. […] #1 Make what’s old new again I have joked that having two boys is the “ultimate in recycling” — Milo is the benefactor of many of Holden’s old toys and clothes. Back to School Shopping for him means that I find all the 2T and 3T clothes that Holden outgrew and put fresh labels in them. Make needed repairs and extend the life of favorite clothes. […]

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