Perfectly Piper Doll Couture

My daughter turned 8 last week and I wanted to create something fun that the girls would actually want and use.   Since all of the girls have American Girl dolls, I thought doll t-shirts carrying on our owl theme would be a fun choice!

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I use thrift store knit shirts because I can find so many more options than available to me at the fabric store!  I found Gap shirts, Jones NY Jones Studio, and Ralph Lauren turtlenecks which all worked perfectly even though some were 100% cotton and some were blended with spandex.  I use the shirt body and the band:

The owl design is from Pam’s Clip Art. I copied the image onto a transparency and burned the image into liquid emulsion using my Yudu.

I figured out that if I cut a tissue paper t-shirt pattern opened up, I could use a Sharpie to mark the center of the shirt and line it up with the owl’s eyes in order to perfectly place the knit fabric in the Yudu Cardshop and again later when it was time to cut out the shirt.  It is definitely the desired method to screen the fabric then cut out and make the shirt!

Once the screen was prepared, I used my Yudu Cardshop to pull the ink onto the t-shirt fabric squares.

Once the ink dried, I heat set the images and made them into t-shirts. The pattern for the doll t-shirt is a free one from Liberty Jane with an added neckband.

I added little tags with tiny brass safety pins tied with bakers twine to clue in the girls that this little t-shirt was for their American Girl dolls, which also made them look finished and special.

Thank you for reading this post!  To see the other owl-themed items created for the party, along with all the crafty how-tos, please check out the sister-post on my craft blog by clicking here.  If you are curious about how to use a Yudu or Yudu Cardshop, check out my Yudu page on my  craft blog by clicking here.

“Owl” hope to see you there!