Ready for Baseball Season 2012

I have friends that are huge Orioles fans and celebrate opening day of baseball season like it's a holiday. :) Three of the past four years (2008, 2009, 2010) I made special shirts for the kids to wear. Last year they were ready for a new look -- the kids were outgrowing that monogram. Kelli and Daisha found a screenprint tee online that they liked, and asked if I could recreate the look. The reality was that I couldn't recreate it at the same price, so I bowed out. Disappointed... but their shirts were really cool!
However, when I posted Dashiell's applique script name shirt in January I figured I might have gotten my job back. ;) After lots of brainstorming and emails back and forth, here are the kids ready for baseball season 2012!

Aren't these shirts awesome!?!? This has been one of my all-time favorite projects and it's been a long 3-4 weeks keeping it quiet! :)

So here's the backstory:
I created their names in Embird using the Applique Script Alphabet by Hang To Dry Applique and sent preview images. Daisha came back with a suggestion (because they are ALWAYS stretching me beyond my current ability level, hahahaha!). Here is her mock-up based on an Orioles shirt:

So I had two things to figure out -- how to outline it in white, and how to add the underline. Since the alphabet is digitized with a triple bean stitch, I figured I could relatively easily digitize my own underline for the names (which I did, woo-hoo!). But I am not Embird Studio savvy enough to figure out how to add an echo satin stitch to something that already exists. So instead I suggested using the next best thing -- fabric! 
This technique went pretty fast at the machine. I got the shirt hooped. I put Heat-n-Bond Lite on a layer of white fabric and a layer of orange fabric. I cut them larger than my hoop to be sure it was big enough for the whole design so I could skip the placement stitches (saves time!!). I laid down the two layers of fabric and stitched the triple bean stitch design and was done doing the embroidery!

Now came the tedious part -- trimming. But this could be done sitting on the couch watching TV with the kids, so it wasn't nearly as restrictive as a complicated design that you have to monitor at the embroidery machine. I first trimmed the orange as close as I could to the stitching line. (Remember I used HNBL so I shouldn't have to worry about fraying or the fabric pulling away from the stitches.)

Next I trimmed away the white leaving about a 1/4" echo patch around it. And then I pressed it really well to get the HNBL to adhere the fabric to the shirt.

Thankfully the mommies were pleased with the results, and I moved on to the other three shirts. They needed a shorter underline that had to be digitized separately, but I was able to use the new one for all three:

The one final detail that was added to each shirt: A baseball on the back of the shirt near the neckline. The "12" commemorates the year.

 

I used an applique baseball but deleted the satin stitch step and instead stitched the tackdown line a couple more times. I use Embird Alphabet #14 for the 12.

This was such a fun project! I always enjoy working on things for the Sheets clan -- they keep me on my toes and I'm always growing. It's awesome.

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UPDATE: After numerous requests, Crissie at HTD has digitized her own version of a "tail" to go with the applique script. It is available on her site as a part of a power-packed fundraising set: Garden Valley Optimist Football Design Pack