Everything Titia: *** ROCKET SHIP APPLIQUE

Rocket Ship appliqué

For our little guy's third birthday (which was back in December), I made another appliqué. This time is a ROCKET SHIP! After searching on line for an appliqué idea with a tutorial or a template for clothing, I finally came across a rocket ship pattern to make a birthday card from Paper Crafts Mag for my appliqué. I was finally happy with the pattern and would work perfectly for my appliqué.

Rocket Ship to the Moon

The ROCKET SHIP Appliqué Project

Difficulty: Easy

Stars on special applique paper

Time: 2 afternoons to complete if you already have the pieces of fabric and the long sleeve shirt.

Template:

I directly printed the template provided on the page from a PDF file for the rocket ship (click on the link to get to the pattern). As for the moon, I used a circular Playdough container and made my our stars. Option: you can draw or print a number "3" to place it in the center of the rocket ship. It was my original idea. However, I ended up not placing the number "3" on the appliqué because I did not like the way it looks. Then, I traced on the "Steam-A-Seam" all the different parts of the template with the original template underneath. Tracing on a window will help see the lines better. Make sure to layer your different pieces of paper (template and special appliqué paper) on the correct sides to have it ready to be ironed on.

Long sleeve shirt, Fabric and Threat:

The long plain grey sleeve shirt was bought at Target. I found it few months earlier for $2.50. Target always have sale at the end of each season or when they have too many of the same item. As for the fabric color palette, I went with the pieces of fabric that I already had at home and used mainly primary plain colors: blue, red, light green, yellow, orange and white. The threat colors choice matched the color of the pieces of fabric selected (white, orange, yellow, red and blue).

Stitch Selection:

Straight, Zig Zag and "long line". To saw the main pieces of the rocket ship, I used the straight stitch selection. To add more texture and definition to the rocket ship, I selected the Zig Zag option for the stripes on the rocket ship. It was the best option to hold the thin stripe. The edge of the moon was done with the Zig Zag as well. To sew some sections and pieces of fabric, I did not used the pedal. I manually turned the flywheel. It was easier to move around the fabric and adjusting the foot of the machine at every turn and at a speed that I could control. To sew so closed to the edge and having the same interval, I traced a line with a washable pencil which made it easy to follow while using the sewing machine. For the stars, I made a border by sewing a straight lines for each side.

Playing with the pieces until I like it

Assemblage:

1. Place the different appliqué pieces on the long sleeves shirt until you like the way it looks. To remember where things were exactly placed, you can make some marks with a washable pencil, use pins or take a picture with your phone. It is what I do most of the time.

2. Rocket Ship
Iron the red body, the nose cone (green) and the stripes. Note that I cut the stripes the exact length after I decided were they look best on the body of the rocket ship.

Playing with thread colors and stitching selection to make the design more interesting.

Sewing with a white thread closed to the edge after tracing with a white washable pencil to help keeping the line straight and with the same distance from the border.

Do not sew the bottom of the body because you will lay the blue part on top of it and finally sew it.

3. The Exhaust

a. Leave an interval for the blue part between the body and the fire.
b. Lay the yellow piece and then the orange.
c. Trace with washable pencil on the fabric to help you while you sew to keep a straight line and stay in the same distance from the border.
d. Use different thread colors (white and orange) to sew the pieces in different areas.