In honor of Flag Day in the United States we are sharing this unique sewing tutorial from Courtney, of Sweeter Than Cupcakes. She took the twisted pleat shoulder detail from her sewalong entry and created a reverse applique flag t-shirt using the same technique! It creates a 3D, waving flag effect for a one-of-a-kind, patriotic kids shirt!
Hi all! I’m Courtney, and you can find me over at Sweeter Than Cupcakes. What I love most about Project Run & Play is how it pushes me to try new things. During the last season’s “It’s all in the details” week, I created the shirt below with a twisted, pleated shoulder detail.
I thought then that the twisted pleat would be fun for an applique, so today I bring you the twisted pleat flag tee perfect for the 4th of July.
To make this tee you will need a plain tee, striped fabric for the twisted pleats, and a rectangular scrap for the “stars.” Cut a rectangle of striped fabric larger than you want the final flag shape to be. You can trim things down later.
Fold the fabric wrong sides together along one of the stripes and pin.
Sew along the next stripe over.
Keep pinning and sewing stripes together until the fabric piece is all pleated. Just keep your spacing equal and leave room on each end to sew it to the shirt.
Press one side of the pleats up and the other side down. Baste along each side. Trim the rectangle to the desired size plus 1/4” all around.
Turn the tee inside out and pin the right side of the striped fabric to the wrong side of the front of the tee.
Sew around the rectangle with 1/4” seam allowance.
Turn the tee right side out. Carefully pull the tee away from the striped fabric and cut it away. I cut from the center out to the corners and then trimmed along the edges.
Use Heat-n-bond to adhere the “star” fabric in the corner. This is slightly tricky because it’s not a completely flat surface, but you just need it to stick in place long enough to sew around.
Zigzag stitch around the “star” fabric.
You’re done! Now, you have a dimensional flag detail with those twisted pleats.
Come visit my blog to see my handsome nephew wearing his new shirt!