How to Embroider Baby T-Shirts
- 1). Cut out a picture of the image you would like to embroider on the baby T-shirt. Place it on the shirt to find the best location for the embroidery. Make a couple of small marks with a piece of chalk to remember the location for later.
- 2). Place a piece of tracing paper on top of the image you would like to embroider onto the baby T-shirt. Keep the paper in place by putting some tape around the edges or using paperclips.
- 3). Use a tracing pencil to copy the image onto the tracing paper. Press down hard on the tracing paper as you copy the image with the tracing pencil.
- 4). Remove the tracing paper from the image and place it on the baby T-shirt with the traced side facing downward. Secure the image to the shirt with sewing pins. Make sure the pins do not obstruct the image.
- 5). Set the iron to a dry, high heat setting and slowly go over the image with the iron for 30 to 40 seconds. Peel up one corner of the tracing paper to make sure that the image has transferred onto the shirt completely.
- 6). Place a tear-away stabilizer on the back of the area on the T-shirt to be embroidered. The stabilizer keeps the embroidery area on the shirt firm without stretching so that the embroidery stitches stay tight when you are finished. Place one piece of an embroidery hoop on the front of the shirt and one on the back. Tighten the screw(s) on the hoop to keep the image in place.
- 7). Separate one strand of embroidery floss. The floss usually has six strands so gently separate the strands with your fingers to obtain the single strand. You can use two strands if you prefer, for a thicker embroidery. Thread embroidery floss onto the embroidery needle by twisting the end of the floss into a point and threading it through the eye of the needle. Pull some of the floss through the eye of the needle and tie the two ends of the strand of floss into a knot.
- 8). Insert the needle into the T-shirt from the wrong side of the fabric and use a small straight stitch to embroider over the image on the shirt. Continue stitching along the transferred image. After the final stitch, insert the needle from the right side to the wrong side of the shirt. Break off the floss approximately 2 inches beyond the shirt and tie it in a knot.
- 9). Remove the tear-away stabilizer gently by pulling it away from the fabric. Pull carefully to make sure you do not pull on any of the stitches.
