For Xmas this year, Todd and I decided that we didn’t want to go all crazy and spend too much money on gifts that people might or might not even want.  So, instead we embroidered the bulk of our gifts to everyone.  I also decided to step up my game this year and try to make what I did…more.  More than just outlining a pattern.  I wanted to stretch my embroidery skills, and the best examples of this are the shirts I embroidered for Todd and my brother Erik.  I bought Dickies work shirts from the local Farm & Fleet for a great price and embroidered these for Todd and Erik above the left-hand pocket:

Todd's Good Luck Shirt

Erik's Tattoo Shirt

I have a tendency to do everything in with all 6 strands of floss, but this time I played around with using 1, 2, 4, and 6 strands of floss, depending on which part of the design I was working on.  I’m very pleased with how they both turned out, and Todd and Erik were both very appreciative of the effort I put into their gifts.

The patterns I used are from a royalty free book Classic Tattoo Designs.  This book is really cool, and I have visions and dreams of creating more of these shirts that I can sell to my friends, or when we get an Etsy shop.  The pattern I used for Erik’s shirt is on page 30.  I printed it out at 100%, hand traced it with a transfer pen, then ironed it on to stabilizer.  That was my first experience with stabilizer paper, and I have to say that I probably won’t use it again.  It was very tedious getting it off after I was finished.  Todd’s design is on page 19, and that one took a little bit of  finagling.  The horse shoe shown was upside down, and I’ve always associated that with bad luck.  Being the librarian I am, I did a bit of internet research, and it turns out an upside down horse shoe means that you’re using your luck right now (versus saving it with the upside right horse shoe).  Since I knew that most people would see it upside down and then figure it was bad luck, I used tracing paper to trace the horse shoe.  Then I flipped it around and traced the flowers on the side, banner, and four leaf clover.  After that, I put it in my scanner/printer and printed it out.  I then used white transfer paper and a stylus to trace it onto the shirt.  This worked really well for me.  I think that because the shirt is very much like a cotton duck fabric, it held the white transfer paper very well.

When Todd sported his shirt to my family’s Xmas Eve party, many people were impressed.  They also thought that I had done it on a machine.  It’s such a good feeling for me to know that I made something for someone I love who appreciates my talents and efforts.