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How to Make Appliquéd Undies for Your Sweetie

kayte terry, contributor

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Send your sweetie a love note only he will see!

Kayte Terry

Choose an embroidery floss color that will pop off the fabric.

Kayte Terry

These appliquéd undies make a great personalized gift for the man in your life.

Kayte Terry

Send your sweetie a love note only he will see!

Photo: Kayte Terry

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Let's face it: Men are not always the easiest people to make crafty gifts for. Even though I am lucky enough to have a crafty husband, I still have to rack my brain each year for crafty gift ideas. A couple of years ago, I decided that I would appliqué a few pairs of boxers for him and he adored them! I love the idea of sending him a love note that only he can see. Here's how to embellish a pair of boxers for your sweetie.

P.S.: This appliqué works just as well on briefs or women's underthings, too.

What you'll need:

• A pair of plain or subtle-patterned boxers
• Scraps of fabric
• Water-soluble fabric pen
• Embroidery hoop
• Embroidery floss and embroidery needle
• Fabric scissors and paper scissors
  
• Permanent fusible webbing
• Iron
  
• Tailor's chalk

1. Trace a heart on the right side of a scrap of fabric with a water-soluble pen. Write out your message in the heart. I wrote initials, but you can also write something like, "I heart you" or whatever else you want. Make sure it's not too complicated since you are going to embroider it!

Make sure to choose an embroidery floss color that pops off your fabric choice.

2. Place the fabric scrap in an embroidery hoop with the traced heart in the center. Thread an embroidery needle with four strands of embroidery floss and knot. Backstitch over the outline of the heart and knot at the end (fellow contributor Erika Kern has a fantastic backstitch tutorial here). If you have a small embroidery hoop, you may need to move around the heart to embroider the whole thing.

3. Thread your embroidery needle with three strands of a different color of embroidery floss, and backstitch over the message on the heart. Knot at the end. If you made intitals, use French knots (contributor Jennifer Stern shows you how right here) for periods.

Leave a 1/4-inch seam allowance around the perimeter of the heart.

Follow the manufacturer's instructions for ironing on the fusible webbing!

4. Cut out the heart with a 1/4-inch seam allowance around the embroidery. Place the heart over a piece of paper-backed fusible webbing, and trace around the outline of the heart with a pen. Cut out with paper scissors. Peel one side of the paper off the webbing, and fuse to the back of the fabric heart with an iron. Peel the other paper side off the back of the heart and fuse to the boxers as desired. Note: Make sure you have bought the permanent fusible webbing! This needs to last through lots of washings!

Make sure to use a tailor's chalk color that shows up on your boxers. You can brush away any visible chalk lines after you are done embroidering.

5. If desired, use tailor's chalk to trace an arrow shooting through the heart, then backstitch over the arrow with three strands of embroidery floss. Knot at the end.

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Comments (2)

Margie Rose writes: I machine embroidered my husbands briefs. Lips on the rear of one, and a rainbow trout on another in the front. He just shook his head. Nurses in a hospital would think he had a sense of humor if anything happened.
Posted: 7:19 pm on January 7th

susanstars writes: how sweet!
Posted: 8:00 pm on December 11th

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