Here is a great project to make up before Christmas is upon us. On a simple white T shirt, an image of Christmas and the winter season in colours that evoke fresh crisp days.
The pattern of the simple lines of a conifer with baubles hanging couldn't be easier or quicker to make.
For this project I wanted to try out some metallic DMC threads and chose to make the baubles sparkly and deep red with a gold star at the peak of the tree. A few roadblocks came into play and I had to compromise on this thread.
To begin the project, I traced the pattern directly through the T shirt fabric with a Birch wash away pen. The pattern itself has quite thick lines which helped in seeing through the fabric.
Using Straight Stitch I stitched along the tree pattern. At the branch tips, these stitches are short and straight across the pattern line. The gaps between these short stitches looks a bit like snow sitting on the branch.
Across the middle of the tree, the straight stitch slant across the pattern lines and are longer and closer together. This makes the centre of the tree appear darker and more defined, hopefully adding some visual texture to the overall tree.
Once the green line representing the branches are completed, I moved on to baubles. Using this metallic thread for the first bauble highlighted just how easy the cotton floss is to use. The metallic thread requires more manipulation to pull into place. It tended to snag and one thread wanted to pull through the fabric more easily than the other.
The resulting first bauble was disappointing to say the least. The coverage was inadequate and warping of the fabric behind the bauble was evident, as can be seen in the image above. I was also concerned that the threads at the back of the fabric would be itchy and irritate the skin.
As an alternative I mixed one metallic thread with a strand of cotton floss. This was only slightly easier to use and resulted in a slightly better bauble.
Moving onto using 2 strands of red floss, solved the problem and the resulting baubles had good coverage over the fabric with less pulling of the fabric. And they were easier stitch. to ensure that the tension of the stitches didn't pull the fabric causing it to pucker. I pushed the fabric from the back with my finger as I stitched each bauble. This slightly stretched the fabric but the resulting baubles were even and flat.
Problem solved however I was still determined to use sparkly gold thread for the star at the top of the tree.
I changed my approach to the star at the top of the tree, knowing that the gold metallic thread would be a bit tricky work. I changed the pattern from a solid star to a simple set of intersecting lines.
You will note in the video that despite this simplification, extra care had to be taken when stitching the 2 strands of metallic thread. Virtually with each stitch, both threads had to be manipulated to ensure that they sat flat and even.
However I am very pleased with the overall result and pleased that I finally used some metallic thread.
The resulting Christmas Tree T is fresh and eye catching and took just a couple of afternoons to make. The red cotton floss is I think, just the right colour for Christmas.
I you want to make this T shirt even easier, try sewing green ribbon for the tree and beads or sequins for the baubles. Which ever way you make up this project, the results will catch the eye, and the Christmas spirit.
See this project on YouTube from start to finish.
Watch our Satin Stitch video tutorial.
Watch our Straight Stitch video tutorial.
Find the design on our Resources page.
