Seahorse Shirt Hand Stitched in Cotton Jersey

I enlarged one of Marty Kenney’s doodles of a seahorse to make a stencil and then hand stitched this appliqué. This became the sleeve of a cotton t-shirt.

I had originally embroidered the seahorse to a front panel. No matter how I looked at it, the placement was unflattering. So the piece sat unfinished for eight months until I decided to move the embroidery to the sleeve. That’s why it has extra seams.

I designed the rest of the shirt to go with the seahorse. I wanted the seahorse to be the focus, the most detailed part, with the rest of the shirt simple, but not plain. After much thought and deliberation, I decided to add a trim to the rest of the t-shirt. Here you can seek all of the trim on the front, back, and second sleeve. A little appliqué like this is not only decorative, but also serves a purpose. It keeps the edge from rolling too much. I learned these sewing techniques from the books of Alabama Chanin.



Stitch, stitch, stitch...



Next I assembled the pieces. The finish on the neckline is my own invention. Learn to sew the neckline here: https://gwenbeads.blogspot.com/2019/12/t-shirt-with-stretchy-noodle-binding-on.html

Since there’s no tag, I like stitching a little doodad at the top back. That way, when I pick it up, it’s easy to tell which side is the front..

Here’s the doodad.
 

Notice the parallel whip stitch where the sleeve connects to the bodice. I use whip stitch for the sewing and top stitching on that seam to make it stretchy. It’s a lot more comfortable for me when it’s stretchy there.

3/4 sleeve. Long enough to cover most of my butt. Deep neckline.

 I’m going to get a lot of wear out of this come spring. 

Thanks for looking!