DIY Little Turkey Shirt

Since Thanksgiving is next week, I thought I’d share a little project. 

I wanted to make sure that Addalee had a little something special to wear for this year.  Last year, we had been given a cute little “My First Thanksgiving” onesie to wear, so mama didn't have to do any planning!  This year though, we didn't have anything special, so I knew I had to get busy!

I looked on Pinterest and found a bunch of adorable little turkey shirts.  I could buy one for upwards of $35 bucks, or I could be cheap crafty and make my own for less than $10.   It was a quick and easy project and I think it turned out super cute! 

You’ll need the following supplies:

A shirt or Onesie

Fabric scraps

Fusible Interfacing (I used Heat N Bond since I had it on hand.)

Scissors

Iron

Sewing Machine or Embroidery Thread and Needle

Turkey Template

Directions:

Pick your fabric scraps.  See that red and white polka dot fabric?  Yeah, that is from a pair of pajama pants I got for FREE at a yard sale!  SCORE! 

Lay out your fabric scraps on your Heat N Bond to see how much you’ll need. 

Cut the Heat N Bond to just under the size of your fabric scrap.  That way you don’t end up with a sticky mess on your iron when you iron over exposed parts of the interfacing!

Put the rough (non-paper) side of the Heat N Bond to the wrong side of your fabric scrap and iron.

Now trace the feather and body templates to the paper side of the Heat N Bond on the appropriate fabric.  I cut out 2 feathers in each fabric.  I liked a more uneven look though, so I only gave my little turkey 7 feathers.  I also used a burlap fabric for the body.  You were going to be able to see through it too much (which looked sloppy), so I just put 1 cutout of the body on top of the other for thickness.

I did a practice round of placement before peeling the paper off the back of the feathers and body. 

***At this point, if you’re going to hand embroider a face on your little turkey, go ahead and do it.  I put this step off until the very last and it was less than easy to push the embroidery needle through all the fabric.  But it wasn’t impossible, so don’t panic if you discover you’ve left this step until the end.

I started with the center feather and peeled the paper off the back and ironed it on, and then repeated that for each set of feathers and the body last.

Now you can sew your feathers and body on either by hand or with your sewing machine.  I chose to do it by hand because I liked the imperfection of the stitches.  (There’s perfection in imperfection, in my opinion!)

All done! 

Now you get to put it on your kiddo!  My little model was more interested in playing than sharing her mama’s turkey creation!  But you get the idea! :)

I had to share this picture too.  I mean, she was definitely thinking, "Yeah Mom, you nailed it with this shirt!  Thanks for making for me!"  Ha!