"Big Sister" shirt

I just have to share this because I am SO PROUD of this one. I embroidered a shirt for my daughter saying big sister (Große Schwester in German). And I so love the result. I am actually thinking of making something similar for myself!!!
I have to admit that this was actually planned as an applique shirt. I have never done applique but wanted to try it. I thought this would be a great project to try the technique. Well ... I chickened out at the end. I did not have the supplies I needed (fusible webbing) and as I started to look for fonts that would work I realized that this probably is not as easy as I thought. Cause the letters are rather small the sewing bit would involve a lot of "turning" .... Well, time was flying by and I simply did not really know where to start. And also there was almost no time where I could actually sew because most of the time I was (and am) carrying around my baby boy in the baby sling. And I definitely cannot work on my sewing machine with him in a sling in front of me. Well, in the end I started to panick ... but really did not want to let go of the idea of making this shirt. (At least I already had a white shirt!) I also had a stash of embroidery floss and figured ... I know how to embroider and I can do this while walking around with him in the baby sling. I was sceptical of the outcome ... but in the end I only had the choice of trying this or letting it go completely. So I tried. And I had FUN and so loved the result!!!

It took me a few attempts to copy the writing onto the shirt. In the end it was really easy - I just put the printed out words underneath the shirt. The black writing shows through the fabric and I traced it with a water soluble pen. Worked great!
And then I started stitching ... I am not too proud of the first letter. But it has been YEARS that I did some embroidery. And the rest of the letters turned out great! After a bit I even got adventurous and figured I should try some new stitches. I already knew the chain stitch, the stem stitch, the back stitch, and the running stitch. So I started googling .... and thanks to the blog Primrose design I learned the twisted chain stitch, split stitch, portuguese stem stitch, couching, interlaced running stitch, coral stitch, and the whipped running stitch (it's a variation of the running stitch). She has a "Stitch school" at the right side of her blog - if you are looking for stitches check it out! They are very well explained!!!

Edited: The owner of the blog Primrose Design opened a whole new blog called the Stitch School. Check it out!

*** IF you would like to make your own embroidered shirt - check out my mini-tutorial! ***






*This post has been entered in the "Best Creative Craft Ideas from 2009" contest at Flower Showers Crafts.*