Popsicles for the Summer Heat Shirt x 2

Ahh… summer. Are you here yet? Though technically it isn’t until June 21, my oldest is out of kindergarten already so we’re ready for all the summer here! Mr. R celebrated his last day of school wearing his newest shirt, sewn for the Get Ready for Summer Blog Tour hosted by Seams Sew Lo. I bring you… the popsicle summer tee!

It’s funny how things you create don’t always turn out how you envision, but they end up being great anyway! Such was the case for these tees. They are made using the Ellie and Mac half pipe pattern (which, by the way, is on sale right now, in addition to all patterns this whole month!). This pattern offers so much creativity with two different blocked pieces on the front. I went through several iterations before I settled on the popsicle. Lighting McQueen, sunglasses, anchors… but popsicles has an all-summer, casual, happy boy vibe to it, so it won!

As for the fabric, the way it turned out was a definite surprise! When I found the striped fabric at Jo-Ann, I thought the stripes were horizontal. But when I got home to wash it, oops! Turns out they were vertical instead. I actually debated doing a different fabric since I’m not usually a fan of how vertical stripes look, but it ended up turning out pretty good anyway. The blue fabric was also a find from Jo-Ann that I used last year when I made a back-to-school raglan for Mr. R.

I’ve sewn enough t-shirts now to know that there’s not really much variety in how much you sew them. The only thing unique about this one compared with most t-shirt patterns is the half bodice pieces. So once I got the pieces cut out and referenced the seam allowance necessary, I pretty much sewed the shirt on my own without referring to the instructions.

I cut out the popsicle pieces using my Cricut Explore 2 (I think I’m starting to refer to this in every post! It really does get used a lot!). The applique is fabric attached using Heat-n-Bond, so to cut it out on the machine I lined up two straight cut rectangles of each fabric and ironed the Heat-n-Bond to one side. Once this was done, I put it on my cutting mat so the split between the fabrics was right in the middle of where the popsicle would be cut out on the machine. Another way I could have done this is to cut two separate halves of the popsicle separately, but I liked this method. The Cricut didn’t actually cut through the fabric all the way, and I know I could have fiddled with this more (or if you have the Maker I’m sure you’d be set for sure!), but I just used what it did cut as a reference point and cut it out fully with scissors.

That popsicle was dying to have a piece bit out of it, any my boys agreed! They keep pretending to take a bite out of their shirts in addition to their real popsicles. Would you like to make a popsicle as well? I put up the cut files in my resource library.

DOWNLOAD CUT FILES

Want to know what fabric I used for the popsicle stick? It’s from some light-blocking curtains that I cut up a long time ago! haha! Who knew I’d end up using them on a t-shirt someday? But the color fit and it has a fun texture, so why not?

I loved sewing these fun summer shirts for my boys! What do you plan to make for your kids this summer? If you are looking for more inspiration, make sure to see  the other summer creations by following the links at the end of this post.

If you liked this make, would you mind sharing it via Pinterest with the image below? TIA!

Please visit all the wonderful bloggers on the Get Ready for Summer Sewing Patterns Blog Tour for some incredible inspirations.

1. May 7th: Seams Sew Lo
2. May 8th: Tenille’s Thread
3. May 9th: Seams Sew Lo
4. May 10th: The Sewing Goatherd
5. May 11th: Aurora Designs Fabrics
6. May 14th: Our Play Place
7. May 15th: Momma Can Make It
8. May 16th: Aurora Designs Fabric
9. May 17th: QuiltsbyJoann
10. May 18th: Liviality
11. May 19th: Momma You Can Make It
12. May 21st: Margarita on the Ross
13. May 22nd: Sewing Blue
14. May 23rd: Kathy’s Kwilts and More
15. May 24th: Momma Newey’s Makes
16. May 25th: Jot Designs USA
17. May 28th: The Scatty Sewer
18. May 29th: Granma Texas Sews
19. May 30th: Fee Bricolo
20. May 31st: My Sewing Roots

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