You are my sunshine top

Here is my tutorial for my "You are my sunshine shirt" I will be uploading to the Sew in tune flickr group. It isn't really a full tutorial, I kind of just explain what tutorials I used to make it. But If you are an intermediate sewer you should be able to follow along....So here is how I made it:

What you need

Thin knit fabric, about a yard (it should be thin because you are going to have the shirt 2 layers)

Yellow knit fabric for the sun (scraps is enough)

Pattern

You can use any shirt pattern for this top, just leave out the sleeves. 

Download my sun applique pattern here.

Cutting

Cut two back pieces and two front pieces from your knit fabric. You want two so that your applique is sandwiched between them. That is why I used thin knit material.

Applique

After following this tutorial for reversed applique with neat edges I suggest leaving out the neat edges and just doing regular reversed applique like from this tutorial. Don't get me wrong, the tutorial is great, but she specifically says: "If you have multiple shapes, it's best to leave at least 1/2 inch between them". Well, my sun rays are much closer together, and so it was really tricky to do the neat edges. Since you are working with knit, and knit does not fray, it is really not a problem to make raw edges. But you choose...

Anyway, after your make you applique topstitch around the entire design, using yellow thread. 

Embroidery
Write out your sentence with a removable pen. Take yoru yellow embroidery thread and embroider the sentence, using any embroidery stitch you like. I made a broad chain stitch using this tutorial.

Sewing
Now that your embellishment is finished, sew together back and front pieces at shoulder seams. You will now have two pieces that look like this.

Place them on top of each other, right sides together and sew around the neck, using a stretch stitch.

Now flip the shirt to the right side and topstitch the neckline, again using a stretch stitch.

Pin your arm hole together, folding under each side about 1/8 inch and sew together.

Sew together side seams.

For the hem, I decided on a lettuce edge hem, in order to make a little ruffle and have to go with the Ruffle leg shorts to make a very ruffly outfit. You can find the tutorial here, I love this technique, and you don't need a serger for it!

And that's it! Make this for a little sunshine in your life!