Tuesday, January 26

lego tee - a tutorial

Boys are so hard to sew for. It's just the way it is. Almost 5-year-old boys with definite opinions about their apparel - darn near impossible.
Luckily - I knew how to weasel my way into his wardrobe!! Appeal to his love of LEGOs!!!!!
Want one of your own?

Gather your supplies:
Scrap fabric - solid color
Scrap fun foam - matching color
Thread - matching color
Scissors
Sewing machine
T-shirt (I chose to use a bright green to match the base he builds off of)

First, cut 2 pieces of solid color fabric in the color you want the LEGO to be. I used yellow for best contrast in the pictures. My LEGOs are 2"x4" - depending on how many you are going to put on the shirt, you can make them bigger or smaller.
Then cut a piece of fun foam the same size. A little bigger is ok - just don't go smaller than the fabric!!
Then on one of the fabric pieces draw 8 circles with a washable marker or pencil. Trace around a dime, freehand, whatever will fit best.

Now, make yourself a fun foam and fabric sandwich. See the layers in the front there - fabric on bottom & top, fun foam in the middle.
Head on over to your sewing machine, set it to free motion and stitch the circles. If you're still a novice sewer & don't have a free motion setting, just be ready to make a lot of turns as you stitch your circles!! You might want to make your stitch length a little shorter than usual too. It helps later, trust me.
When you're done with the circles, clip any dangling threads on the front. Flip it over, and slice up the back. You should now have eight "squares" with circles inside of them.
Fun foam rips pretty easily once you get it started - your stitches will have perforated it enough. Keep on ripping until the only fun foam is sandwiched between the two layers of fabric.
Flip it over, and there's your LEGO!!!!
Line up all your LEGOs on your shirt and pin them in place. I chose not to use anything to iron them in place considering the whole fun foam melting possibility. ;)

Zig zag stitch around the edges of your LEGOs and trim random threads as needed.
Give it to your LEGO-maniac, listen to him declare that the shirt is too big, make him model it anyway, and be thankful that you have a little girl who is too young to argue with how you dress her! And oh yeah, he is SO wearing it at his party. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.Make as many LEGOs as you want - whatever colors you want. Change your measurements, change your LEGO size to be a 2x2 block - your options are limitless!!

1 comment:

Misty @Creative Itch said...

I could so see my little guy in one of these! Great tutorial! Thanks for linking up @Creative Itch!