Accidentally Green: Quick Applique Fix

Girls being girls, our Miss Trinity got a terrible stain on her favorite pink sweater. She was not a happy camper. It wasn't an ordinary stain either. Not something fairly easy to get out...say chocolate or ketchup (her favorite foods). It was gooey and sticky like adhesive or gum. No matter what I did, I could not get that stain out. I also could not afford to run out and buy another sweatshirt that could be stained just as quickly. So I let Trinity go through my scrap bin to find a fabric she liked that I could make a heart or flower or any kind of applique shape that could be ironed over the stain.

Butterflies...I was thinking that I could make a sweet appliqued butterfly to cover the 3" stain on the upper left part of the jacket. Trinity loves butterflies.

But when Trinity came across a pink fabric generously sprinkled with tiny iridescent glitter with heart, rose and skull tattoos...that was the end of the search. No matter how much I tried to change her mind, she was set on the tattoo fabric. It is very pretty fabric, but tattoo fabric for a 5 year old that will want to wear the sweatshirt to school? I wasn't so sure that would be appropriate. However, there was one tattoo on the fabric of a heart, pink roses, stars and a halo that I thought might do. And there were intricate butterflies.

So the process began. I cut out the tattoos that I would be using, applied Heat N Bond Iron-on Adhesive Ultrahold to the back of the fabric, carefully cut out the design, peeled the backing off the Heat n Bond, and ironed the tattoos on the sweatshirt. Viola, an adorable pink sweatshirt that no one else in her class will be wearing (not that she cares in kindergarten).

I consider this 'Accidentally Green' because while I thought I was saving myself from a tantrum by our resident Drama Queen, Miss Trinity, I was, in fact, saving the sweatshirt from the rag bag and ultimately from the neighborhood landfill. And when the sleeves are up to Trinity's elbows, she will be proud to pass this sweatshirt on to her best friend, Heaven.