Mickey Mouse Inspired Valentines Day T-Shirt

In honor of our upcoming trip to Florida, (which will be during Valentine's Day!) I decided to make my kids some Mickey Mouse Valentines Day Shirts.

Now, maybe it is a little bit of a stretch, but they are supposed to be X's and O's in there - making the red show through :)

I had a couple of leftover shirts from Goodwill - brand new and 50 cents each :) so I used those.

First, I traced my shape onto each shirt.  This would, of course, work with any shape!  I used a ball point pen to trace, because the line does not show up after you sew over it. 

Next, I cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover the shape.  I chose red for Valentines day...

I tucked the red fabric inside the shirt, right side up, so that it was behind all parts of the shape, and pinned the shirt and red fabric together.  Make sure that there are no wrinkles. 

Using a contrasting color, I sewed around the shape 3 times - sewing through the top layer of the shirt, and the red fabric. 

Here is what it looks like when it is turned inside out:

And here it is after I trimmed the excess red fabric:

I turned it right side out again, and drew a grid (criss crossing lines) inside the shape.

I started with all the horizontal lines (left to right), 3/4 inch apart.  Then, I did the vertical lines (top to bottom), again 3/4 inch apart.

Using the same color thread, I sewed along each line.  You should be sewing through the top layer of shirt, and the red fabric, just as you did when sewing around the shape. 

With very sharp little scissors, I cut through the top part of the shirt only, making an X or an O in alternating little squares. 
Make sure you do not cut through the red fabric!  You can bunch the shirt a little bit in each square to catch the shirt only as you cut. 
You could do all X's, which looks pretty cool - and it looks cool even after it is washed.  I did X's and O's to make it more Valentiney :)

My kiddos are looking forward to wearing these on Valentines Day - and I am glad they have something festive to wear that didn't cost me an arm and a leg! 

So glad you stopped by!