Nightmare Before Christmas T-shirt Applique

Another Halloween project--sewing a simple applique on a t-shirt.

It's been fun this year that my little guy is excited for Halloween, and this was a quick 15 min project that made his little day and served as a potty training prize.  Luckily, things are clicking and I hope we'll be done potty training here in a few days!

Anyway, here's our scary shirt to show you!

When I showed him his $3.00 prize he jumped up and down saying: "Cool Halloween shirt!"

I hope people recognize it as the main character from the movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, because running around in a black skull t-shirt kind of reminded me of Sid from Toy Story.

 SUPPLIES:

-black t-shirt

-white fabric scrap

-interfacing: fusible, Heat'N'Bond, stitch witchery, etc.

-printed template

-thread (white and black)

I sketched the head of Jack Skellington for my applique.

You can print yours here.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Trace template onto interfacing

 I used fusible interfacing because that's what I had on hand.  Heat'N'Bond is double sided that makes it even easier if you have that.

Since my interfacing only had one fusible side, I traced the face on the shiny/ glue side using a black marker.

2. Iron interfacing on white fabric

I used a scrap of white broadcloth.  I iron the interfacing on the highest setting for the fabric without steam.

3. Sew Face Features

Your tracings should show through your white fabric, showing you where to sew.

 Using black thread and a shorter stitch length (1.5) I sewed the mouth and teeth lines with a straight stitch.

For the nostril holes, you could just sew straight lines too.

For my nose holes, I chose to use my zig-zag stitch.  I set the stitch length to almost zero, or the button hole setting.  Then I started with a narrow zig-zag (1) and as I sewed twisted the knob up to stitch width 5 then back down to 1.  It makes a oval shape of thick thread.

4. Cut Out Applique

Cut out the skull and eye holes.

*If you are sewing this on a shirt that isn't black, rather than cut out the eye holes, you can trace and sew black scraps on top of the white skull for the black eyes.

5. Pin and Sew the Applique on Shirt

If you are using Heat'N'Bond, at this point you can peel off the paper backing and iron the applique on the shirt.  You could be finished at that point, but I always sew on appliques for durability.

Since the back of my skull didn't have adhesive, I pinned it on the chest of the t-shirt.

Using a straight stitch and white thread, I first sewed around each eye hole, pretty close to the edge, less than 1/8". 

Next I just sewed the circle perimeter of the skull (1/8" seam allowance) and it was finished!

A quick, cheap, easy, little Halloween project!

Happy Halloween!