Toddler Birthday Shirt

I decided this year I wanted to make Jack's birthday shirt. Since we have a friend's wedding on his actual birthday, we will be celebrating a few days late with just cake and ice cream. We will save a bigger party for when we have a big house to invite people to. Anyway, I see similar shirts on Etsy now and again so I thought I would give it a go. Please keep in mind this is a TESTER. I picked a random shirt I didn't care about, and a piece of fabric that I didn't really care about, so I could mess up all I needed to before doing the "real" thing.

Yellow t-shirt, green fabric for the front of the shirt, BIG number 2 for Jack's second birthday (Cambria font 572 size), and Heat n' Bond Lite (this was in the box of sewing stuff my mom sent along with my original machine). I ironed everything.
I cut out the number to make sure it was close to what I wanted.
Put the bonding paper face up on the wrong side of the fabric. I ironed it 2-3 seconds as per the instructions.
I then let it cool, and removed the paper backing. This was so much easier than I thought it would be!
I then pinned on the number, and cut the fabric/bonding. I can tell you that as usual, it is not cut perfectly, but it is not terrible. I went very slowly. The bonding helped keep the fabric a bit stiff so it was easier and more stable to cut.
I ironed the number onto the back of a t-shirt I don't really mind ruining. (TESTER, remember? This will be done with fabric I actually like and a blank new t-shirt very soon). 4-5 seconds and it seemed pretty well on there. I wouldn't have run it through the washer or anything, but I have a general distrust of all iron ons.
I then sewed around the number using a zig-zag stitch. You can see my biggest cutting mistake there on the left, and the uneven stitching. I used black so I could see the stitches clearly to fix any mistakes for next time. The stitches look the way they do because I hesitated A LOT. I also forgot to put the needle down before "turning" the fabric after lifting the presser foot a few times.

Too far onto the letter.

Slightly better down where there are straight lines.

Finished product! I am kind of excited about this one because it has many applications besides just birthday shirts. I don't think it turned out too badly, really the only issue is the uneven stitching but that will definitely be better next time.

Time for the whole tester project: About 10 minutes. I am not kidding. It will take me more time to pick out the perfect Fat Quarter of fabric and plain T-shirt than it will to make it next time.

Next project: Birthday shirt, the REAL thing!