It’s been a week of children’s clothing challenges on The Great British Sewing Bee – first the cute dungarees (that I am bursting to make for my nephew!) followed by the task to turn a pillowcase, children’s jumper and trousers into a fancy dress costume for the little ‘uns. As you probably know, fancy dress is my forte and I would have relished this challenge. In my mind, the first thought was to create a tiny pirate’s costume for my nephew just as Cerina did (and won the challenge with!) and my second option was an angel outfit and the white pillowcase would be perfect for this. Over the previous weeks there have been a few little outfits appearing and it has inspired me to share my little baby-grow project with you.
I didn’t actually make the baby-grow itself and I’m not sure that I’d trust my haphazard sewing against baby-soft skin, so I’ve simply upcycled a bought baby-grow with a t-shirt transfer. I used t-shirt transfer paper that you can print directly on to using a computer printer at home and I designed this tiny ‘He started it’ slogan using Publisher on my laptop. It is a baby-grow for my little niece and I decided that no matter whether it was her father or her uncle holding my her, one of them would definitely have started it because she’s too much of a little princess to get into trouble! I’ve used the same type of transfer paper to print a lucky cat image onto one of my old tops – check out the blog post here. The only thing to remember when using t-shirt transfer paper is that you must print the text in reverse so that it appears the right way round after it has been transferred onto the fabric.
If you want to print your own t-shirts or children’s clothes it’s best to follow the instructions on the pack of transfer paper that you’re using so I followed the directions to trim closely around the image or text and put into position on the fabric before pressing with an iron. The pack will guide you on how long to apply the heat to the transfer – too little time will result in the transfer peeling off and too long will discolour the print.
The transfer paper usually recommends that the transfer is allowed to cool down completely before it is peeled off so I carefully lifted one corner after about 5 minutes cooling time and the backing paper peeled off easily. Sometimes the transfer needs additional treatment to seal it but it depends on the type of transfer paper you’ve used. If you’re after a more polished finish to your printed design, have a browse of the reviews on on the TShirtProfessional website to find the best cutting machines and processes to use when printing t-shirts in darker colours or different materials.
And there you have it – a custom-made slogan t-shirt or onesie for the children in your life, made in super-fast time!
