Last  fall, one of my neighbors gave me a box of vintage patterns he found tucked away in his basement. The weather-stained cardboard box that once belonged to his mother was filled with patterns that represented decades of accumulation: Vogue Patterns, McCall’s, Simplicity, and Butterick . Each had been purchased for as little as a dollar and some change.

In the group was a vintage Misses’ Top pattern with a four-color iron-on transfer. The Charlie’s Angels feel of the photograph, bright colors of the shirts and 70’s floral designs reminded me of the Marimekko era and they seemed a good addition to our DIY Selection.

As the transfer was too fragile to iron-on, we created a stencil inspired by the design on our pennant felt.

Today we feature this design as a limited time, seasonal DIY Kit. While our garments are created to be timeless, as designers we feel the desire to expand and change the collection with ever-evolving styles. We will continue to offer our most popular DIY Kit selections, adding new, complimentary styles for each season. This DIY Embroidered Flowers V-neck T-shirt Kit is our first new addition for spring and featured on our Mother’s Day Gift Guide.

The V-neck T-shirt uses the pattern from Alabama Studio Sewing + Design with an adapted neckline. The embroidery floss colors are from a special selection, available with this DIY Kit only. The kit comes stenciled and ready-to-sew.

Below we provide instructions for the embroidery stitches and list our design choices.

The embroidery stitches used for this project can be found in Elegant Stitches. We highly recommend this book as an embroidery resource guide for everyday use.

To create the leaves, use a Fishbone stitch; instructions available on page 42 of Elegant Stitches. To create the flower petals, use a Satin stitch; instructions available on page 35 of Elegant Stitches. To create the center, or “eye”, of the flower and the linked stems, use a Chain stitch; instructions available on page 59 of Elegant Stitches.

Note: For our flower center, or “eye”, we drew a small circle in the center of the stenciled flower shape with a pencil. First, complete the Satin stitch for the flower petals. The Satin stitch will go from the stenciled flower edge to the edge of your drawn circle, or “eye”. Then fill in the eye of the flower with a circular Chain stitch.

OUR DESIGN CHOICES

Garment –Long sleeve V-neck T-shirt Top (Adapted from the T-shirt Top pattern in Alabama Studio Sewing + Design)
Fabric weight – Alabama Chanin 100% organic medium-weight cotton jersey
Fabric color – Natural
Button Craft thread for construction – Coats & Clark color #26 Cream
Stencil – McCall’s vintage iron-on floral transfer
Embroidery stitches- Cretan stitch for the binding;  instructions available in Alabama Studio Sewing + Design
Seams – Inside Felled