T-shirt Beading

Pin It There's a brand new shopping centre in Melbourne and it's filled with all sorts of wonderful things.  We generally don't head into the city very often, but so far we've managed a gorgeous high tea and a "just looking" tour of the clothing establishments held within.

Now that our youngest teen is very intent on making her own clothes, a "just looking" day is fantastic fun and rather than emptying wallets, we end up with heads filled with inspiration and there's much chatter about fabrics and colours, as well as styles and what patterns we own that would come up with something similar, but still individual enough for her.  One thing that really stood out to us on our last day in the city was the number of embellished T-shirts, something that can be easily done at home for very little cost.

What you'll need:

Plain T-shirt
Iron on interfacing
Cotton
Scissors
Beads (we used flat backed beads that had holes for sewing)
Needle
Tailors Chalk






Step One

Lay out the beads on the T-shirt in your chosen design and mark each bead's position with tailors chalk.

Step Two

Cut out interfacing to a size that will cover the area to be beaded.  We find the interfacing gives some stability to the cotton t-shirt fabric and make it easier to sew.  Iron interfacing to the inside of the T-shirt where the beads will sit.



Step Three

We found a fabulous youtube video from Ann Dean Frederick which gives really detailed instructions on Sewing a Bead to Fabric.  It shows perfectly how to make sure each bead is going to stay in place and how to carry the cotton from one bead to the next with the minimum of fuss.



Step Four

Sew beads in place







Step Five

Delight in wearing your newly embellished T-shirt.


Happy Sewing

Deb



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