Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Shirt

My youngest son turned one in June and because I think themes are fun, he had a Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday party. I wanted to make a special shirt for the occasion so I figured out a plan and set to work. A neon green tank top purchased for just a few dollars at Walmart made a cool base and I appliquéd a caterpillar and number 1. 

I didn't want to use a solid colored fabric for the body of the caterpillar since Eric Carle's collages are much more interesting than that. I thought that painting directly on the fabric might not give me the look I was after. Instead, I made applied acrylic paint to my 8x10 inch gelli plate making sure to leave visible brushstrokes. I accidentally purchased fusible interfacing instead of the fusible webbing I wanted for my appliqué project, but the interfacing added some stability to the fabric and made it super easy to print on.

 I think the Very Hungry Caterpillar shirt turned out really cute, despite the fuzzy edges from me buying the wrong product. I would like to get some textile paint or medium and explore gelli printing on fabric more in the future.