Applique Attack

There is nothing more annoying than paying a lot for kids clothes that are grown out of after one wear, or pooped on after 5 minutes of wear. That's an exaggeration. There certainly are more annoying things, like telemarketers calling on Saturday mornings or the buzzing sound only the dentist's polishing tool makes. Anyway, I for one can't quite abide expensive children's clothing. However, I often find myself wishing I could afford to dress my kids in cute, one-of-a-kind pieces. Three years ago, when my oldest daughter was born, I started to explore the realm of homemade. I made her a few ribbon embellished onesies, and these two dresses.

Each time she wore something I'd made for her I felt a strange sense of pride. (I also felt a strange sense of time travel to the days of prairie life and homemade everything.) So I'm expanding my repertoire. This project is super easy, and other than the onesie or t-shirt you use, only requires the smallest scraps of fabric. Like many quilters I have quite a stash, so I had a lot of options. The possibilities are endless, and I plan on exploring many more of them.

Materials:
This materials list is for a flower pattern similar to the one below. Alter color of fabric scraps according to your design.
Onesie or t-shirt (I think it's cuter when you start with a color other than white)
Fabric scraps
Green:
3 rectangular pieces 1/2" by 3"
4 1" leaf shape pieces
Orange:3 circles roughly 1 1/2" diameter (these can be oblong or round)3 circles roughly 3/4"diameter
1 circle roughly 1/2" diameterContrasting thread

How-To:
1. Trim all pieces with pinking shears.2. Arrange as desired on front of shirt (or back, or shoulder...like I said, endless possibilities). I cut a lot of extra circles so I could play with the color combination of each flower.
3. Secure each of the pieces with a tiny dot of fabric glue. Make sure to place a piece of paper inside the shirt first so the glue doesn't fuse the shirt front to back. You could also pin each piece very carefully instead of gluing them down.4. Using contrasting thread, stitch 1/4" from perimeter of each shape. Feel free to get fancy with your stitch selection. If your machine is like mine it has a lot of stitches that you rarely use. Now is your chance.That's basically it. I know, easy, right? I think it will look even cuter after washing has frayed the edges of the applique a bit. Now I need to find some more solid shirts to attack.