Mickey Mouse Thanksgiving and Birthday shirts - Silhouette Cameo and Embroidered

My dear friend, Amy, asked me to make shirts for her adorable son.  He's celebrating two milestones this month: his first Thanksgiving and his first birthday.  We flipped through a few pages on Etsy so she could give me an idea of what she was looking for.  She's a big Mickey Mouse fan, so it was fitting that these are Mickey Mouse inspired shirts.

First Birthday Shirt

First Thanksgiving Shirt

I came across this cute Thanksgiving fabric at JoAnns.  I thought it'd be perfect for the necktie applique.

I first layed out the designs using the Silhouette designer.  Then I cut out the fabric to fit the applique designs.

Iron Heat n Bond to the backs of the fabric.

 
After it has cooled down, remove the Heat n Bond's paper backing.

 

Cut out each design separately.  I started with the necktie.

 

Adhere the fabric to the cutting mat.  Then load it into the machine.

 If you have a sharp blade, it'll cut like butta'.  Remove the excess fabric and ta-da! You have yourself a lovely necktie!

I went through the same process with mickey mouse head and the pilgrim hat.

Layout the design on the shirt, then use a medium iron to iron everything into place.

Now, put the Silhouette away, and pull out the sewing machine!  I used my sewing machine, instead of my embroidery machine, to sew around the appliques.

Here is what it looks like after I've stitched down the necktie, Mickey, and the hat.

Now, I used the embroidery machine to embroider 'My First Thanksgiving' onto the necktie.  Since, I'm still new to embroidery, I hold my breathe the whole time it's embroidering.  It's so nerve racking because I'm afraid something awful is going to happen!  But, nothing bad happened.  Yay!

Then I sewed '2013' on Mickey's ear.  Here's the finished product!

To make the birthday shirt, I used the Silhouette to cut out all of the applique pieces.

I laid out my design.  Then ironed everything into place

I used an applique stitch around the number one and the party hat.  I used a straight stitch around Mickey's head.

 I sewed a pom-pom to the top of the hat.  And found some ribbon for the bottom of the hat.  Last but not least, I embroidered his name at the bottom.

 Somebody is going to look awfully handsome on Thanksgiving and his birthday. ;)