{Handmade Holiday} Monogramed Christmas Shirts

I knew this year I really wanted to make all the gifts we'd be giving to family. I've been having a lot of fun making all these gifts, they are so personal and special to me because I've made each and every one. I really hope they love them too.

This is the first Christmas in three years that we'll be at home with my side of the family. I really wanted all my nieces, nephew and Ava to wear some sort of coordinating outfit, because yes I am that Aunt and Mother who thinks it's cute to match and coordinate with your cousins!

I decided to make them each their own monogrammed shirt to wear on Christmas day! Here's what I did;

What you'll need: {most of this can be found at your local craft store, and use a coupon for more savings.}
-blank shirts in any color {I choose red & white and mine are from Wal-Mart, by far the cheapest I've found them at about $4 a piece.}
- heat bond
- felt in any color for as many monograms as you need
- sewing machine & thread
- Christmas fabric
- needle and embroidery thread {in coordinating colors}

Here's what you'll do; {these pics were all taken on my iphone, turns out it's hard to man a camera and sew! :)

I choose to do a circle design, and then sew a monogram on top. I traced out 4 circles in the same size for my 4 shirts, and then used the heat bond to "bond" the fabric to the shirt. It helps me for when I sew the fabric so it doesn't slip around, and will also acts an an extra "glue" so it all stays together.

After that I sewed all 4 of them around the edges of the circle.

Here's what they all looked like after I sewed on the fabric circles.

Next it was time to do the monograms. I picked out a font I liked and printed all the initals out on paper and then pinned them to the felt and cut out the letters. I tried to free hand them but they were a mess, so this was much better for me and they look prettier.

Next, I used the same method and used heat bond {follow the directions on the package} and fused them to the fabric circles.

After that, I wanted a contrasting color around the monograms so I used embroidery thread and hand stitched around the monograms. You could also use your sewing machine and so it that way to, but this is what I choose to do. {pop on a movie and do this while you watch since it might take a while depending on how many shirts your doing!}

Then when you're all done they will look like this:

Box them up and give them to the kiddos! I can't wait to see them all in their shirts Christmas day!

Linking Up With:
A Bowl Full of Lemons * Get Your Craft On * My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Thirty Handmade Days * Sundae Scoop * Weekend Wrap Up Party