Custom Buddy Walk Baby Shirt

The Down Syndrome Society of Wichita is having it's annual Buddy Walk this Saturday, Oct 3. If you haven't signed up to join us yet and can make it, please come along! If you can't make it, but want to sponsor us, you can still do that, too.

One of the fun parts of the Buddy Walk is collecting a new tee shirt each year. Unfortunately, they don't usually have them small enough for babies. I decided this week to make one for Eleanor to wear, so she can share in the team experience.

I bought a few supplies: fusible adhesive, a blank tshirt, and some blue fabric (Buddy Walk colors are blue and yellow.) I would of liked to have found a solid blue shirt to use for Ella, then attach a yellow design, but couldn't find one the right size so I went with white. No biggy.


First, I printed out the Buddy Walk logo to scale on my ink jet printer. I taped the design underneath the tracing paper adhesive sheet and on to a window so I could see to trace it clearly.


Then I removed one side of the adhesive and stuck it onto the back on my fabric. Using fabric scissors, I cut out the design.



Next, pulled off the tracing paper and stuck it onto my shirt. Ironed it in place for 20 secs or so.


Initially, I planned on using my sewing machine to sew along the design on the shirt. I quickly discovered that the design was so small my sewing skills couldn't make the tight turns in the design. So I ripped out the stitches and decided to hand stitch instead. Obviously, I am not a needle pointer. :) My hand stitching looks very "handmade", but that's fine with me. I also had planned on attaching a heart shaped button to the center person but it was too big, so I stitched the heart on instead. I think it turned out very sweet and unique, just like Ella's favorite person with Down syndrome!


*Eleanor kept herself very busy while Mommy worked on her shirt.*