No Sew Turkey Shirt Tutorial

When I was little my mom made me the cutest Halloween sweatshirt, out of that material where everything is there already and all you have to do is cut it out and use iron-on backing to attach it to the shirt. You know what I'm talking about right? I loved it, and my best friend even had a matching one! I decided that since Emma was old enough now I wanted to make her one. Since I didn't get around to making her a Halloween shirt, I wanted to make her a Thanksgiving one. There are just not that many Turkey Day shirts out there for kids. My original plan was to make her a sweatshirt, but I could not find one in her size, not even at Walmart (I know right?), so I got her a turtleneck instead.

Here is what I started with. I originally wanted to find the fabric cutouts like my mom used, but apparently they don't make them anymore, so I had to get creative. Mom suggested I used felt, and so I did.

I then quickly decided that I did not like the look of these colors and had to rethink my plan.

I remembered that I had this ribbon leftover from sweet pea's birthday party, and I knew there was some way that I could incorporate it, but how? Finally a light bulb went off in my little brain and I decided to use it as the feathers of the turkey.

I did end up using the brown felt as the body of the turkey and a little piece of the orange for the beak. Here are all the pieces cut out and ready to be laid out on the shirt. I used some things found in the kitchen to trace for the head and body so I could make perfect circles. If I hadn't done that who knows what they would have looked like!

Like I stated in the title of this post, this was a no sew project. I am learning to sew, but still need A LOT of practice and many more lessons. I picked up this sewing glue from Hobby Lobby to attach everything to the shirt. It goes on white but dries clear, which was a good thing because I got a little sloppy when the gluing process started.

I went ahead and glued the feathers together and let them dry while I attached the rest of the body.

I then laid everything out on the shirt so I could make sure I got it in the right place before I started gluing.


Here it is after I glued most everything down.

I then added wings on top on the feathers so it would look more finished and you wouldn't see the ends of the ribbon.

Here is a close up of the wing glued on top of the feathers.

I then added googli (sp?) eyes for a little character, and thought sweet pea would think they were fun.

Here it is all finished. I had hoped to get a picture of sweet pea modeling it, but haven't gotten around to it since finishing the shirt. Once I do I will take a pic and share. I have also since added a waddle to the turkey, since I forgot to add one before taking these pics.

I have another Thanksgiving craft project in the works, but am not sure if I will be able to finish it before next week, so it might have to wait until next year. I still can't believe that Thanksgiving is just a week away, and Christmas will be quickly upon us. Where did this year go?

Until next time, BYE!

Linking to:

Savvy Southern Style

At The Picket Fence