Reverse Appliques

What do you do when you have a brand new T shirt that gets stained the VERY first time the wear it?!? (Or any time they wear it, for that matter!)

A REVERSE APPLIQUE!!

In this particular case, I had the shorts that matched this little shirt and I just wasn't willing to put it into the rag pile just yet, but that stain was not going anywhere. And believe me, I wage warfare on stains, so I had tried it all.
These fun appliques involve placing a coordinating piece of fabric on the backside of the shirt, embroidering the letter or design, and then cutting the "offending" part of the shirt away! Even if it doesn't get rid of 100% of the stain, it really masks the tiny parts well. And the cutest part of this (in my opinion) is the way the jersey knit "curls" back after it gets washed. I snapped this particular picture before this shirt hit the wash so you can't see it here, but I have lots more of these designs just begging for me to stitch them out on my boys shirts...what kid doesn't want a lightning bolt, or a skull, or a guitar...so many to choose from!

This is also a great option for those striped shirts that you find in the Dollar Bin at WalMart and Target...not so much on their own, but so awesome with a reverse applique!