Monster Shirt Applique with Free Pattern - KCWC Day 2

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Anybody else participating in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge?  I technically didn't make this shirt during the challenge, but I did make the matching clippy this morning which rendered the shirt wearable to my 3 year old.  I'm also working on a couple of other kids sewing projects, but I'm always a few days behind posting projects.

I picked up this cute long sleeved shirt at a rummage sale recently.  I love the stripes, and it's the perfect size for Becca...and she could use a few more long sleeved shirts now that it's getting colder...but of course the colors are a little boyish.  I don't mind putting girls in boys colors anyway...but I thought a little girly monster would be fun on it ( a little like the girly dinosaurs we made a couple years ago.)



Becca wasn't so sure about it at first.  She wanted it to be a boy monster...but I'd already sewed the bow on it.

Then I decided to make her a matching bow clippy.  (I tried a new way of making the clippy, which isn't perfect, but has some promise)...
...and she came around.

And we went on a little walk to make taking pictures more fun...

Watching her zoom around on her scooter sure makes her look like she's growing up...starting that transformation into a school girl, even though she has 2 years left to go.

 She also felt a little better about wearing her shirt with her new pants.  I actually made the pants because I was making some for Anson and there was lots of fabric left over from the shirt I cut up to make them.  (You can see my tutorial here for making fun leggings from shirts.)  As much as I love stripes, I don't usually like them head to toe...but this works better than I thought it would.

And makes me glad we put that sidewalk in around the house.

So now that I've posted a million cute pictures of my little girl and her monster, here are a few notes about how I made it.

And as soon as I thought of putting a fun monster on the shirt, I thought of the fun monsters in some of Nicola's artwork over at nJoy Art.  I also wanted to choose colors that wouldn't make it just a "Halloween" shirt because the right monster can be fun anytime.
 4 LITTLE MONSTERS No.3, Four 5x5 acrylic canvases
As an extra bonus for you, Helping Little Hands readers can get FREE shipping on any order from nJoy Art through the end of October by entering NOSHIPNJOY at checkout.  Nicola has lots of original paintings and prints for the whole family.  You've got to check her out.
I emailed her and asked if I could use her design and share it with you...and she said of course.
I let Becca choose which monster she wanted, and she opted for the little red guy.

I loved the way the darker outlines made the monsters in the artwork pop, so I decided to try to recreate it in applique.  If/when I get around to making another monster, I may try using a little paint around the edges of a single piece to create that effect. When I do applique on kids shirts now, I nearly always use T-shirt scraps.  You don't have to worry about the edges fraying and can just do a neat straight stitch around the edges to hold them on.  You can see my directions for T-shirt applique here.


If you'd like to make a little monster of your own, you can download the free printable template here.

If you're into monsters, you might also want to check out my previous post about monster knee patches.

And if you're looking for projects to join in on the Kids Clothes Week Challenge, there are a lot more free patterns on my Hand-Me-Down REHAB (aka how to make cute clothes on the cheap) Page.


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Monster Pair Original Painting from nJoy Art	Faith in God Makes Me Stronger from Shirleen Bland's Art Studio	Personalized Transportation Collage from nJoy Art

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