DIY Elephant Shirt

Pinterest Inspired Aztec Elephant Shirt 

         As you can probably tell, the inspiration came from the middle picture and the pictures on either side are my finished product. I made this shirt for my best friend Brook (who's Pinterest I stalked for birthday gift ideas). I saw this Pin on her "Want" board and I fell in love with it and I did not want to give it up when I was done! 

         

For this project you will need:

-A comfy shirt (long sleeve, short sleeve or tan top- I would suggest using a tank top if you're looking for this particular style, but I used a long sleeve and cut it to my own liking)

-A funky/tribal print (fabric, shirt, etc.) 

-WonderUnder

-matching thread

You may also need:

-Iron/Ironing board

      I started out with a long sleeve gray shirt, and it's really thin, but the thickness is unimportant in this process. I guess I should have taken pictures of me cutting it into a racerback, but I guess there always has to be one picture that I forget to take! 

      Anyway, cut your shirt to your preference (or leave it as is), then move on to your next step!

     Next, you need to make a template for your elephant. I taped two pieces of paper together to make a wide enough piece to cut out the ears*. I folded the wide paper in half so I only had to draw the ears once and also so the back would be at least kinda symmetrical.            
     Then, I cut out the piece for the head/trunk/tusks. Trace both of these pieces onto the WonderUnder and cut them out (not in detail, but generally).
     Iron the pieces onto the WRONG side of the chosen fabric, wait until it cools and cut out the pattern with both the fabric and WonderUnder being cut out. 
     Once you have them cut out, lay them out to your preference and iron them on one at a time. 

*Note that the ears and the head/trunk are two separate pieces with the print going different ways.

      As your last step (which is also completely optional) sew around the design about 1/2 an inch in from the edge.
I also took the opportunity to sew in small white X's for eyes (I was debating wether or not to add eyes, then once I decided to add eyes I had to decide whether I would use beads or thread)

< I used the inside of the shirt because I thought that the darker, more rustic look was the way to go...but the picture above ^ that's the right side of the fabric. Just clearing that up XD