H is for Hope

A very special little girl celebrated her second birthday this weekend, and Aunt Emily just had to come up with a gift idea that was every bit as special, unique and quirky as Hope herself.  I am sure you remember my sweet niece from the highchair redo, don't you?

As I was catching up on some blog reading this weekend, I stumbled upon Shannon's tutorial on appliques.  As soon as I saw how cute these finished shirts were and how easy the steps seemed, I knew this was the perfect gift for my favorite two year old.

It turns out that hunting down solid color t-shirts in toddler sizes was probably the hardest part of this whole project.  After trips to Old Navy, Carter's, Target and JoAnn's were unsuccessful, I finally found these shirts at WalMart.  Turns out they are perfect.  I love the scalloped edges, and at $3.88 a piece, the price was definitely right.

As for the fabric that I used for the project, I used a combination of leftovers that I had sitting around and 2 fat quarters that I picked up at JoAnn's.  I actually love using fat quarters for small projects, because then I don't have to deal with the fabric cutters.  ("Hi, I'd like 1/800th of a yard please!")  Plus, every time I'm at the JoAnn's it seems everyone is there getting fabric, too, and that can turn a 10 minute trip into a 40 minute trip.  The only other supply I need for this project was Wonder Under, which is the double sided fabric adhesive stuff.  I got a big roll of it, which I will probably never use up, for half off at $3.14.

So, once I amassed my supplies, I got to going, loosely following Shannon's steps.  I cut my fabric shapes, adhered them to the t-shirts, and then outlined each of the shapes with the sewing machine.  I kept it all very simple because 1) I wanted to take it slowly and be successful, and 2) I started this project at 8pm the day before the party (oops!).  All in all, it was pretty easy.  Personally, I was mostly concerned that I was going to sew the front and the back of the shirt together, which I didn't.  Yay!

I made Hope 3 shirts.

A purple heart inside a pink square:

 A pink heart on a pink shirt:

 And, a blue H on a hot pink shirt.

 I think they turned out so adorable.  And, in fact, they are special, unique and quirky, just like little Hope.

And, here's the birthday girl in one of her new shirts!  She took a quick break from all of the action for a couple pictures for Aunt Emily.

 When you ask her what the H is for on her shirt, she very proudly announces, "Hope!"

 And, here she is with her new babydoll.

Oh, is she the sweetest or what?  So, there you have it:  a sweet little homemade gift for a sweet little two year old.  Aunt Emily loves you to pieces, Hopester!

xo,

Emily

**  linking up to the girls at: