By Julie on February 5th, 2025 This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
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Have you ever found yourself falling in love with something you created years ago, only to recreate it in an entirely different—and better—way? That’s exactly where the story of my LOVE shirt begins. Grab your favorite fabrics and your embroidery machine because I’m going to show you how to make your very own appliqué shirt!
But first, here’s a little backstory that might inspire you.
The LOVE shirt that started it all
Years ago, back in my college days, I made a shirt I absolutely adored. It was a denim button-up shirt with the word “LOVE” appliquéd in flowery bohemian fabric. I’d freehanded the letters, cutting the fabric with care and stitching them onto the shirt using a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine. It wasn’t perfect, but it was one-of-a-kind—and it made me feel like Lady Miss Kier of Deee-Lite (my groovy style icon) every time I wore it.
Me in my original LOVE shirt back in 1993.
A shirt rediscovered
Eventually, life got busy, as it always does, and that shirt got tucked into the back of my closet, and then into a tub in the attic where it sat forgotten for years. Fast forward to a few months ago, when my teenage daughter rediscovered it while rummaging for “vintage” clothing. She instantly fell in love with it and it became one of her wardrobe staples.
Seeing her in this cute shirt made me wonder why the heck I abandoned it in the first place. Did I think I was too grown up for an appliqué LOVE shirt? Did I deem it too out of fashion? Or had I just grown tired of it?
Adelaide (my
Whatever the reason – that old LOVE shirt looked cute as hell on my daughter and I couldn’t exactly ask for it back. It was time for me to create one for myself.
Old shirt, new methods
Lucky for me – I now have an embroidery machine that would make the stitching – much easier. I also own digitizing software which would allow me to create whatever style of letters I wanted.
I also already owned a perfect shirt that would serve as my canvas for this project. It was a plain oversized corduroy button-down shirt I had ordered from Amazon. It was one of those finds that looked amazing in the pictures, but I never got around to wearing it. Therefore – it was perfect for giving my LOVE appliqué concept a modern twist.
All I needed was some appliqué fabric and a suitable LOVE design. I broke out my embroidery machine, gathered my supplies, and reimagined my college-era creation.
Now, it’s your turn. Whether you’re looking to create a perfect Valentine’s Day outfit, gift something heartfelt, or just add a fun, handmade piece to your wardrobe, this project will give you all the tools to appliqué your very own LOVE shirt.
Why Make a LOVE Shirt?
Why not?! A LOVE shirt is more than just a cute addition to your wardrobe. It’s a piece of wearable art, something you can create entirely to your taste. Here are a few reasons to make your own:
A Fun Project: Appliqué shirts are an easy and fulfilling way to practice your embroidery and appliqué techniques. Plus, the results are gorgeous!
Celebrate Valentine’s Day: Nothing says love like… well, LOVE! Create a festive yet wearable piece for Valentine’s Day—or even Galentine’s Day.
Personal Expression: By choosing your own fabrics and colors, your LOVE shirt will be a reflection of your style and creativity.
Special Gifts: Handmade items show extra care. A custom LOVE shirt could be a thoughtful gift for someone you love.
Creating the LOVE appliqué design
In order to create a personalized and unique LOVE design, I used my digitizing software to draw out the letters. But don’t worry if you don’t have digitizing software – you can download my design in the resource library.
Put for the goal of full disclosure, here’s how I created my design:
First, I searched for the perfect font. The website dafont.com is a treasure trove of unique fonts. I looked around for a groovy letter set then downloaded it and installed the TTF font on my computer.
Next, I typed out the word “LOVE” using this fun font within my vector-based drawing program. I have access to the Adobe Creative Cloud so I did this in Adobe Illustrator. You can also use Inkscape to do this (which is free) . I tweaked the letters a bit after I had typed them out. This required me to convert the text to outlines to that I could manipulate the shape of the letters. Once I had my letters in a satisfactory shape, I saved the file as an SVG.
Using the StitchArtist Level 3 capabilities of my Embrilliance software, I imported the SVG file into a new document. I scaled the letters so that they were about 6-1/2″ tall.
Before I could apply a stitch to each shape, I needed to perform a Boolean subtract operation on the peace sign (which I used as the O in LOVE). The empty spaces in the peace sign needed to be subtracted from the outer circle. Boolean operations are another feature that is available in StitchArtist Level 3.
One letter at a time, I applied an appliqué stitch and a bean stitch topper to each one, and I saved out each letter as a separate PES file so that my embroidery machine could read it.
Choosing the appliqué fabric
Before I started this project, I thought surely I could find four different appliqué fabrics that worked well together and matched with the navy shirt to use for each letter in my fabric stash. But after searching through my fabric stash, I realized that I needed to buy some new fabric (oh darn!).
I ended up buying a little cotton fabric bundle that was packaged together at JoAnns. I thought the prints were fun, a little bit retro, and that they would work perfectly for this project.
How to Make a LOVE Shirt
Lucky for you – there’s no digitizing required for you to make the LOVE shirt. Grab your shirt, pick out your appliqué fabric, download the designs from the resource library and you’ll be ready to go .
Supplies and equipment needed
Here’s a complete list of everything you will need.
Supplies
Plain Oversized Button Down Shirt: It can be any color, fabric or style that you like. A denim shirt would look great with a floral appliqué design, but feel free to choose whatever works best for your personal style.
Appliqué Fabric: Pick out at least four different fabrics that coordinate well together. Each appliqué piece should be about 8″ tall and 7″ wide.
Embroidery thread: I would suggest using the same embroidery thread color for each letter. This makes it easy as you can use the same thread for all of the stitching.
Got everything? Great! Here’s how to put it all together step-by-step.
Steps to Create Your LOVE Shirt
Before you get started…. If your shirt has a pocket on it – you may want to remove it. This should be pretty easy to do with a seam ripper.
Step 1: Plan your design
Print and cut out your letters and use them to plan out the placement on your shirt. Play around with different arrangements until you find one that you like then pin the letters in place.
Step 2: Prepare the appliqué material
Iron your appliqué fabric, then fuse HeatnBond Lite onto the wrong side of the fabric. Remove the paper from the back of each letter.
Step 3: Iron fusible poly mesh on the wrong side of the shirt
Start with the letter L. Place a pin through the center of the letter. Then place a piece of fusible poly mesh underneath the letter, centering it on the pin. Then press it down using your iron.
Step 4: Prepare your embroidery hoop
Hoop a piece of adhesive-backed stabilizer with the shiny side up. Use a pin to core the inside border of the hoop to create a tear in the top paper. Peel it away to expose the sticky surface. Next use a disappearing ink pin to draw a horizontal and vertical line on the stabilizer through the center point.
Step 5: Place the shirt on the stabilizer
Line up the pin through the center of the letter and place it at the intersection of your drawn lines. Align the letter on the stabilizer so that it is straight and centered. Gently press the shirt down on top of the stabilizer to secure it in place. When you are satisfied with the alignment, remove the paper letter.
Step 6: Begin appliqué stitching
The first round of stitching will be the placement stitching to show you where to lay down the appliqué fabric. When it is done, lay down the prepared applique fabric over this placement stitching.
Then, start the next round of stitching. This will tack down the fabric to your shirt. When this is done, remove the embroidery hoop from the machine and use your appliqué scissors to trim away the excess fabric outside the stitching line.
Return the embroidery hoop to the machine and start the next round of stitching. This is the final satin stitching with a bean stitch detail on top.
Repeat
After you finish the first letter, tear the shirt away from the hoop stabilizer. Use your appliqué scissors to trim the excess fusible poly mesh from the inside of the shirt. Then repeat steps 3-6 for each of the other letters until you have completed your LOVE shirt!
Add Personal Touches (Optional)
Want to take your LOVE shirt to the next level? Add some embellishments! This could mean stitching small hearts around the letters or sprinkling rhinestones lightly on the sleeves.
Finishing touches
Once all four letters are stitched onto your shirt, trim any excess threads and stabilizer. Your LOVE shirt is now complete! Now it’s time to rock your new creation and spread some love wherever you go.
Show off your creation
Creating your own appliqué shirt is not just about making something wearable; it’s about putting love and creativity into something uniquely yours. Whether you’re crafting for Valentine’s Day, a gift, or simply because you’re feeling inspired, this project is an easy way to bring joy and style to your wardrobe.
Don’t forget to share a photo of your completed LOVE shirt on social media and tag me, I would love to see how yours turned out!
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