Make your own Disney shirts

My sisters can tell you that I am the least crafty in this family, so I am pretty proud of my latest project. We have a trip to Disney coming up. I want the boys in matching shirts everyday that we are there, mostly to have an easier time keeping an eye on everyone and also because it will be adorable. We have already spent a fair amount at Del Sol buying the boys matching Spiderman and Buzz Lightyear changing color shirts. Shirts at the Disney store are about $12.95 each ($38.85 total for 3 not including shipping and handling), though they do have sales. I do not have a local Disney store to pop into so I've been watching the shirts online and have been frustrated that many of the sales shirts do not still have sizing for 2 size 2 shirts (or 2T/3T) and 1 size 6 boys shirt, all matching. So I took matters into my own hands: I crafted!

I went to Target and browsed the toddlers and boys t-shirt department. I found white shirts in both departments and neon stripey gray shirts too. They were all on sale. The boys size short sleeve shirts were $5 each ($10 total for 2) and the toddlers long sleeve shirts were $4 each ($16 total for 4). Then I went to Wal Mart and bought Cars fabric, full price, and black fabric from the scrap/clearance bin. I paid $3.74 total for all the fabric. I also had to buy Heat n Bond Ultrahold (an iron on adhesive), which was about $5 for 1 yard (I don't remember the exact price). I still have most of the yard left from the 6 pieces of fabric I ironed on, so I plan on using that at a later time. Total for materials: $34.74, giving me 6 completed shirts plus leftover fabric and leftover iron on adhesive.

This probably is not an earth shattering idea for my crafty blog readers, but, as I said, I'm not crafty, so this was pretty big stuff for me. :)

The neon stripey gray shirts

I'm a visual person, so I actually had to cut out the printed off image and lay it on the shirt to make sure I liked it.
This is a Googled image of an applique Mickey.

For the toddlers' shirts I printed off a 4x4 Mickey Mouse (adjusting the size on my computer).
For the boys' size shirt, I printed of a 6x6 Mickey Mouse (picture above this one).

I then cut out the three Mickeys. I did not put the Heat n Bond on the back of the Mickeys first because I want to put a stitch around the edges of the Mickeys. I did use double sided tape to tape the printed off Mickey pattern to my fabric, making it easier to cut out my exact shape.

This is the Cars fabric that I bought at Wal Mart. I then put away this project for about a week before my neighbor reminded me that I really needed to finish this before we go to Disney.

I roughly cut out 3 Lightning McQueens and ironed on the Heat n Bond.

I traced the Mickeys on the Heat n Bond and then cut out their shapes.

This is a picture of the back of the cut out Lightning McQueens and the Mickeys with Heat n Bond applied. I did not put Heat n Bond all the way to the edges of the Mickeys because I bought Heat n Bond Ultrahold which says "Do not sew!" really big on the packaging and I want the edges sewn on... so this is how I solved that problem (apparently I should have bought Heat n Bond Lite if I wanted to sew it). Now the edges can be sewn.

I started with the toddlers' shirts. First I peeled off the back of Heat n Bond before measuring where to iron on the Lightning McQueens.

I used the ruler on the side of my husband's level to make sure the Lightning McQueens were ironed on at the same spot for the toddlers' shirts. I put the bottom of the Lightning McQueens just above the arm pits of the shirt, which put them about 2.5" down from the neck of the shirt.

For the boys' size shirt, I just made sure the Lightning McQueen was centered. I placed him just above the arm pit of the shirt as well.

The completed Lightning McQueen shirts.

These Mickey shirts were even easier. I used the striped to help line up the Mickeys and just made sure they were centered on the shirts. I measured the toddlers' shirts at the same time again, since it would be most obvious if these shirts weren't uniform.

And I did the same thing with the boys' size shirt, using the lines to help place the Mickey and making sure it was centered.

The mostly completed Mickey shirts. Now I'm sending them over to my neighbor's house to have black stitches put around the edges of the Mickeys.

The Mickey shirts are definitely my favorite. With the neon stripes, they will also be the easiest to spot in the park. I have bright stripey shorts that I am going to have the boys wear the day they wear the Lightning McQueen shirts, making the outfit pop a little more. My husband is most pleased with the price of this whole project, 2 days of matching shirts for the price of one. :)