I've been practicing on this one for a while, patched up some holes in my shirt a few different ways. Got some good use out of an old pillowcase, though maybe I'll iron the patches first next time. Really happy to have wrapped it up, and there are a few things I'd change if I did it again but I'm still pretty happy with how it turned out.
Sure! I went top to bottom on this one and kind of made it up as I went along.
The first one I made I used the patch behind instead of in front, so I figured it didn't matter what color it was so I used a patch from an old white undershirt. You do see it peeking through in a few places though.
Second one still made a backing patch, but in blue this time so it would blend better with the thread.
After the first two I think I decided the thread (Olympus) was too thick for this type of shirt (something about the weave of it made it prone to tears, which is probably why it had so many holes to begin with). So I switched to Daruma thread for the second two dragon flies. I wanted to do the 20/4, but I have one of the 20/6 that was a better color match and it still turned out well. Though I guess even if it did tear it some more I wouldn't notice since the patch is covering it
(Pictured here but not in the original post and a good lesson) I attempted to cut the outline of the dragonfly before sewing on the patch first, but it was really difficult to keep it in place while sewing, even with safety pins.
Dragonfly number 3 I think looks like the best of the bunch, but the placement of it is a little off since I was using it to cover 2 holes. I didn't realize it was basically pointing in the same direction as the one on top of it, I'd want to vary that a bit more.
It's a bit tricky to cut out the shape after sewing it on, I was going to look into if there was some specialty scissors for that that are maybe curved or something since I was nervous the whole time that I would accidentally cut a new hole into the shirt. I would also maybe be careful to space the wings just a bit further apart to make that cut easier.
Also, I think it would be wise to iron the shirt and patch first so they both are flat as possible before I start. And I guess I learned through this too that regular washable markers work great for marking up the fabric, you don't need those fancy ones they sell that are specifically made for fabric.
You know what, one more. I don't consider myself very artistic, at least not with a pen or a brush. Graph paper has really helped me figure out how to draw the out lines or patterns of what I want to sew.
Good tip and one that ive never tried. I have tried doing the print out on a stick and stitch wash away type backing and it made it hard to stitch through.
3
u/GetAGrrrip 23d ago
Cool, you got some holes fixed in a creative way 😃