Add-On Embellishments

• 1). Decide on the style or theme for your T-shirt. If you are embellishing T-shirts for a particular event, such as your school's homecoming game, you might want to stick with your school colors, which will become the style or theme of your shirt. If you want your T-shirts to have a punk rock look, you might choose embellishments such as silver studs.
  
  
• 2). Select the assorted embellishments for the T-shirt. You could choose from embellishments such as small satin ribbons, decorative buttons, patches, beads, sequins, rhinestones or seashells.
  
  
• 3). Create a mockup design of the T-shirt embellishment. Draw an image of the shirt and place the embellishments strategically around the shirt, without gluing them down, to achieve your desired look. You might decide to only put the embellishments around the neckline, at the hem or on the back of the T-shirt.
  
  
• 4). Begin gluing the embellishments onto the shirt with a hot glue gun. Lay the shirt flat on a working surface as you glue. Leave the shirt flat while it dries. If you hang the shirt up to dry, gravity could weigh down heavier embellishments, causing them to sag on the shirt.
  
  

Printed Embellishments

• 1). Print a photo onto the T-shirt as an embellishment. If you want to decorate your shirt with a picture of your favorite band, your dog or a funny quote, you can print it directly onto the shirt.
  
  
• 2). Load a cotton or cotton-satin blend photo T-shirt into the printer. Select the photo you wish to print, and size the photo in the printer options so that it prints with an 8-by-11-inch dimension.
  
  
• 3). Print the photo fabric T-shirt. It will run through the printer, just like paper, and come out with the image printed on the front or the back of it.
  
  

Sewing Embellishments

• 1). Sew trim onto the T-shirts to embellish them. Hold a spool of trim, such as lace or satin ribbon, up to the parts of the T-shirt you want to embellish.
  
  
• 2). Cut the proper amount of trim that you need for each section. You might just want to add the trim to the bottom of the shirt, such as a fringe, or you might want to sew a satin edge around the neckline.
  
  
• 3). Thread a needle and stitch the trim onto the shirt, using a straight stitch. Work from the inside out so that the seam and the stitches are hidden underneath the shirt.