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For my husband’s first Father’s Day this year, I wanted to make him a heartfelt gift. Especially with this being his first ever Father’s Day! So I decided to combine two things I know most everyone likes: a keepsake from their child and a good t-shirt.
I bought a t-shirt on Amazon that I knew he’d like (here’s the shirt I picked) to start with. Next, for the keepsake, I decided to add a patch of a Muslin swaddling blanket to the sleeve. This particular blanket was special because it was the first blanket he was able to hold his sleeping daughter in because she only wanted to sleep on me in the beginning.
One quick recommendation is that, if you have a darker t-shirt and a light/white blanket like I did, you should give the shirt a quick wash first to ensure there is no bleeding on your patch.
Without further adieu, here’s how I made A’s first Father’s Day keepsake gift!
Table of Contents
Step 1: Gather up what you need for the project
For this project, I used:
- T-shirt
- Muslin blanket
- Sewing needle
- Thread (I chose a baby pink color)
- Pellon Wonder Under or HeatnBond Adhesive
- Iron
Step 2: Create the patch
To create the patch, I started by tracing out a heart on the adhesive. Next, iron on your material (in my case, the Muslin blanket) onto the wrong side of the adhesive so the raised bubbles are facing the material.
You’ll then cut out your shape by cutting along your traced lines on the adhesive backing.
Now you have your patch!
Step 3: Sew on patch
This is the most tedious part, especially since I decided to hand stitch my patch onto the shirt sleeve.
I grabbed my needle and thread and went to work. I won’t bore you with a tutorial on hand stitching; there are tons of those already on the internet.
That’s it!
And voila, you have a special DIY Father’s Day gift! Here’s my final product:
Altogether, this was not a tough project. More time-consuming than anything, since I am super new at sewing.
It turned out to be a huge hit with A! He’s already worn it a few times and it’s held up better than I thought. (Am I the only one who thinks everything you make by hand will break down after first use?).
Did you make any special keepsakes for Father’s Day? If so, what did you make?