Embroidered Tattoo-inspired Sparrows (how-to? perhaps...)

I knew I wanted to put some sparrows on the t-shirt, but where? What method would I use? Hmm...
Taking a page from traditional tattoos I decided to put the birds on the shoulder area.  I knew I didn't want to paint them on, and wasn't ready to attempt the Beads in a Bottle crap again. OH! Embroidery! I've never done that before and this is all about practicing, right?!? Well hell. Here I go...
If you want to try embroidering something, here's what you'll need:

embroidery floss
needle
embroidery hoop
interfacing (iron-on or tear away or water soluble)
disappearing ink fabric pen or pattern transfer paper
design of some kind

*Sorry I didn't take pictures of the process, but there are several online tutorials on this stuff (I decided to blog about the t shirt after I already started all of this, so I don't know if I want to go the how-to route or the just telling you what I did like the skull a day guy)...just remember if I don't explain something well enough Google and the Library are your friends!* And back to your regularly scheduled blog!

This is the picture I found. I resized them printed the bad boys out.

I also reversed the image so the white lines were black and easier to see under the t shirt.  Then for some bizarro reason I tried pattern transfer paper. It worked, but not really. So I went back over the image with one of those purple air soluble disappearing ink pens. If you use a regular pen, make sure you embroider over the image to cover it, or use the ancient Chinese secret to getting rid of ink. If you know what it is, please tell me. No, seriously, tell me.

Now the image was on there and I had my floss colors all picked out it was time to start this rodeo...
Make sure you have enough interfacing so it's bigger than the hoop. The interfacing helps to keep the fabric from stretching whilst in the hoop.  For the blue bird I used iron on, but I didn't iron it on.


I used a simple back stitch since I was used to it from my cross-stitching youth. 

I used tear-away interfacing for the green bird. Honestly I don't know how I feel about this stuff. It's nice and stiff (what girl doesn't like something stiff?) but it's a pain to tear away. So if you use it, make sure you use towards the back of the t-shirt.  You'll see why I say this in the Athena post.
For the eyeballs I used black Beads in a Bottle paint instead of a french knot. Just make sure you don't iron over the paint like my genius self did.

Birds on a Sleeve

OK. So I started this thing, I better continue with it.

I was looking up raven images since I heart Edgar Allen Poe's narrative poem, "The Raven" (you'll be seeing more raven inspired stuff later) and came across this one...

I liked the image of the birds on the tree and knew it was something I could replicate somewhat easily.  Now where the heck to put this thing.  Sleeve was the first thing that popped into my head. Or perhaps it was just because I put the skull iron-on the other sleeve the day before...maybe...
I took the print out and slid it under the sleeve, making sure the birds faced forward.  I remember from somewhere about tattoos and imagery displayed on the body should face forward if on the side or towards the center if on the front or back. And so I digress...
Anywho, the next question was what the heck to put this on the shirt with. Oh I know! My Tee Juice pen! Basically it's a fine tipped felt tip style pen that's easy to draw with on fabric and then heat set with an iron once everything is dry. (My only caution is to test it on some scrap fabric first because it just takes a light touch for the pen to work. If you hold it in one spot for too long the ink will run throughout the fibers making a big blob of ink.)
I slid the original image under the sleeve and traced.  If you have a hard time seeing the image you can use a lightbox or tape the image and tshirt up to a sunny window. I was mainly interested in getting the birds traced and the main branches. The rest I kinda improvised.  Anywho, here's the end result....

I think I'll do this on another shirt I like it so much! Woo hoo!