Are you ready for my favorite shirt of 2018?!  Well, I’ve only sewed 3 this year so far but this one easily tops the list and probably will for a while!

Yes, I made those floral designs and cut them out of crushed velvet using my Silhouette Cameo!  Back in October I took this picture of this shirt I found at Target because I loved it.  I couldn’t quite think of how to recreate it, but of course the Cameo is the perfect solution.

So, how did I do this?

Here’s the tools I used:

• Silhouette CAMEO 3 Wireless Cutting Machine – AutoBlade – Dual Carriage – Silhouette Studio Software
• Silhouette Of America Fusible Fabric Clean Cut Roll Stabilizer, 12 by 60″
• Silhouette Fabric Blade
• Pellon Wonder Under Fusible Web Regular Weight-15″X2 Yards

First I designed all the cut files in Adobe Illustrator and the Silhouette Studio software.  For the flower fabric I used crushed velvet (thanks VHCO & Sincerely Rylee!) and for the greenery I used french terry (thanks Knitpop!).  Now, I don’t 100% recommend using these fabrics for a few reasons.

1. Crushed velvet can shed.  A LOT.  This can junk up your blade and lead to a lot of frustration.  I ended up doing a few at a time and then cleaning out the blade.  A pain, but you do what you gotta do when you have a vision.
2. French terry sheds too, and can be thick.  This green was a luscious organic french terry…I needed to use it because I wanted this color.  But I’d recommend using something much thinner like cotton lycra.  That would be ideal.

Before you cut, however, you need to prepare your fabrics for cutting.  The stabilizer really helps the blade get a nice clean cut, and the Wonder Under is what enables the flowers to be ironed on to the shirt.  Here’s what I did:

Now, stick the fabric to your cutting mat sticky side down.  Install your fabric blade.  Play around with your cut settings in the program to find the right ones for you.  I used the preset Fabric – Thin/Cotton and then adjusted up a bit from there.  The pink velvet cut more easily than the burgundy, and the french terry was the hardest for me.  I think I had my force all the way up for that one and I had to clean it up a bit with scissors after the fact.  The french terry was just soooo thick.  The velvets were not so bad except for the shedding furry-ness factor.

When its done cutting, be sure to peel off your pieces gently, depending on how intricate your design is.  I always end up wanting to cut stuff that’s probably a bit more intense than most people.  Ha!

I was super impressed by how well it did cut overall though!  Look at those details!

Then!  You get to arrange your designs on your garment.  Of course I needed to mirror the design on each sleeve, because I’m crazy like that.  Here’s what I ended up with.  Not too bad; left and right sleeves.

Then iron down as directed on your fusible webbing.  Mine took about 5 seconds on medium heat.  You’re done!

This is my first time sewing up the Lane Raglan by Hey June.  I really love how it turned out!  I’m pretty picky with raglans because I don’t usually like the way the sleeves / armpits feel with the raglan seam.  But I keep trying more and this one is a winner.  I did do my standard 1″ height adjustment all over (hello, monkey arms).  Next time I think I will add a bit of width to the upper shoulders, another problem area for me.  This one is certainly still very wearable, however.

Join me in obsessing over this oatmeal french terry!!!  This is THE coveted oatmeal french terry from Raspberry Creek Fabrics.  I lucked out and got in on the preorder before Christmas.  Once I figured out how to do the flowers, I knew I needed to use the french terry for this recreation shirt.  It’s literally one of the softest shirts I’ve made.

That’s all I’ve got!  Stick around for how I used the rest of this burgundy crushed velvet. 😉

Elisabeth

This post was created in partnership with Silhouette.  All opinions are my own.