Embroidering on an applique...

MatteasMama

OK let me prefice this by saying I am totally new at this...well, everything really. Sewing, period, not just embroidery! But I have come up with what I think is a great idea for some childrens clothing, and I'm hoping to get some good input here...

Basically, I need to make appliques for infant and toddler t-shirts and onsies. I'm trying to design my own appliques to match the style of shirt I am creating. So for instance, my first project is going to be a little lilac colored skull and crossbones. I have the design drawn up already...I will probobly be using a felt fabric.

Now, I'm assuming that in order to embroider this on to a shirt, I would need to iron it on first. Is there a way that you can turn the cut out fabric into an iron on? And then, once it is ironed on I want to embroider around it. How do I do this? I know it's probobly going to be hard on a stretchy material like cotton...Also is this very difficult to do by hand? I was looking into embroidery machines but holy cow are they expensive! That would probobly be something I would get later on down the line...

Any information and input you guys can give me would be great Thanks!

supreme glory

If this was my project, I would take the shirt like fabric and have an adhesive appliqué patch made with the embroidery already added, then I would purchase a 110 volt heat press for under $500.00, this way you can plug it right into a regular outlet socket.

Create the t-shirts/onsies and test the market.