Patriotic T-shirt Makeover

Independence day for our family is probably different from most of you.  My husband grew up selling fireworks every year with his family, and we’ve taken on the tradition.  Our family runs 3 different locations.  The 4th of July is one of our busiest selling days.  We usually miss the big fireworks show.  Not that we don’t make up for it later.  We have a big barbecue and invite everyone who helped us sell to light off some of the leftover fireworks.  But, the one thing my kids do love to do every year is go to the little parade we have here.  I always try to have all 3 kids dress patriotic.

After I did the “Love” t-shirt makeover, I’ve been wanting to try more.  The other day, I had a fun idea for a Patriotic t-shirt. Here’s what I came up with:





Here’s what you need:


A white t-shirt
An old red t-shirt
An old pair of jeans
Something to make the stars (I used Silhouette white heat transfer, you could probably also use a white fabric marker to draw the stars.)
Fusible Fabric interfacing (just a small square. I only used it for the jeans)
Freezer Paper

The first thing you need to do is cut the strips of Freezer Paper. You need four. Two that are 4” x 1” and two that are 8 1/2” x 1”. When you have those cut out, then iron them on to the outside of your t-shirt.  Make sure the freezer paper is shiny side down.  It’s hard to photograph white on white.   I didn’t measure or anything, I just eye-balled the placement.  The cool thing about shirts like this is they are meant to look a little shabby, so perfection doesn’t matter as much.




After the freezer paper is ironed on, cut out a slightly larger square of the red t-shirt and pin it on the inside of the shirt.



Turn the shirt right side out and stitch around the freezer paper.  If the freezer paper starts to peel up, just iron it back on. I used red thread, but if you’re worried about mistakes showing up, you can totally use white. When you're done, just peel off the freezer paper.




After you’ve stitched around all four rectangles, turn the shirt inside out again and trim the excess red.



Then turn turn the shirt right side out and cut out the stripes. Just make sure you’re only cutting the white and not the red underneath.



Now for the jeans and stars.  Cut out a square that is 4 1/4” x (slightly over) 2 1/2” . 


If you’re using the silhouette, cut out and iron on the heat transfer stars.  If you’re using fabric markers, draw the stars on.  Iron the fusible fabric interfacing onto the back of the jean square. Then, iron the jean square onto the shirt.  I don’t have pictures from that part. Sorry! I was getting excited to see this finished!

When the square is in place and ironed on, stitch around the square. I’m hoping that after lots of washing, the edges will fray a little bit.



And that’s it! You’re finished and all ready for the 4th of July!! This is a really simple afternoon or naptime project.




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