How to Make a Normal Shirt Way More Awesome

This shirt was made as a birthday gift for a friend of mine. He is Israeli and he works as a chef in the city. The text translates to I heart treif. Treif is a term used for anything that is not Kosher. Including... our delicious friend, the pig.

This is another design using the same basic principles but with a bit more color and some super easy, but awesome looking, embroidery skills.

i made a small sketch of the image that i wanted to make. then i drew the image to size on strong drawing paper. If you don't trust your drawing skills you can print out an image from a computer and change the image size in the printing options.

because my image for my 'good pig' shirt has several layered pieces i need to trace the overall image to create the white background of the pig and then cut the original drawing to act as a pattern for the colored pieces that represent the different cuts of meat.

the image for my 'i heart treif' shirt will only use the white background and achieve the separation of the cuts with stitches.

double sided iron-on interfacing can be found at any fabric store. it helps make this project so simple. one side will feel slightly textured and the other will be smooth paper. iron it with the textured side touching the fabric.

once you have your image prepared peel the backing of the interfacing off and iron it directly to the shirt. you wont need to use pins so it makes it is easy to carry with you. i sewed most of this together on the subway.

i kept the size of the stitch relatively uniform to outline all of the images but i used larger stitches to indicate the separation of cuts on the pig.

i prefer the look of the simple stitch for the edges of the images but for the words i wanted to create a solid line.

lightly draw the words in pencil so you have a line to follow. start your stitch from the bottom coming up. make one small stitch down and come back up. then put your needle back in at the end of your first stitch and bring it back up one stitch length past your visible stitch. repeat this to create a solid line.

Now you're done and your shirt is way more awesome than it was when you started!