iCarly Penny Tees

iCarly Penny Tees

So. Whilst researching for our iCarly birthday party I wrote about yesterday, one of the decoration ideas I found was to make giant colourful paper t-shirts with wacky sayings, like on the show. “Wait, what now?” I thought to myself. Having only watched a handful of episodes in detail, I had yet to notice that there was an “inside joke” of sorts going on – that being, often one of the characters would be wearing what I now know is referred to as a “penny tee”. A little further sleuthing on the iCarly wiki site (they have their own wiki site!?!?) informed me that one of the crew would hand-make these special t-shirts for the cast and crew members. (Later in the series, they apparently dedicate a whole episode to this phenomenon…)

Naturally, instead of making decorations using this idea, I decided to price out how much it would cost to make these tees as our “goody bag” items. A quick trip to Old Navy revealed that the kids ringer tees were on post-Christmas sale, so the project was very affordable. Unfortunately, as they were a clearance item, there wasn’t much choice in terms of colour – and they didn’t actually make ringer tees in “girly” colours – but we found enough shirts for all the guest AND all the “fambily” too. I picked up a package of iron-on Avery T-shirt Transfers (for light colours) and we were all set to go.

I went back online and found as many original penny tees sayings as I could, automatically disregarding any that I thought were just a little too weird or might offend a parent (i.e. “Uncle Female”, “Mister Duck Lumps”, and “Butter Me Queasy”). I then designed the decals keeping the words small and compact so they would fit on a child’s smaller shirt (and to save on the number of transfers used). I decided to forego both the “one mismatched armband” thing and “an actual penny sewn on the sleeve” thing as I didn’t want to be spending a whole lot of time on them, and I was fairly certain that nobody but myself would notice these details anyway. I then decided to use a transfer image of a 2011 Canadian penny on the sleeves (a nod to their reinvented origins) so that at least we could still call them “penny tees”. 😉

And here’s how they turned out:

I’m not sure the kids were completely thrilled with not getting a bunch of crap in their goody bags, but at least I know we gave out something that won’t go to waste. In fact, my son informed me that a handful of his classmates were going to wear their shirts to school on the same day (later that week) so they could put on an iCarly performance for the class and teacher. Yay! Well, there you have it – our hand-made versions of the iCarly Penny Tees. Happy Birthday Monkeyboy Junior!!!

67 Replies to “iCarly Penny Tees”

    1. It’s one thing to give them away to 7-year-olds as gifts… I’d fear the wrath of the iCarly copyright police if I started actually selling them! They are easy enough to make for yourself, though – all you need is a printer, some decals, and an iron…
      =) K

    1. As I said above Ali, I don’t want to get in trouble with copyright infringement issues… They are so easy to do – just get some iron-on decals and you can make your own in minutes!!!!

  1. would you be willing to sell me one? a pink/red one that says “spaghetti tacos”? i will pay. I have seen people on ebay selling them, and i dont think there is any legal issues.

    1. Again, I don’t feel comfortable doing that. I suggest that if you’ve seen them on Ebay, maybe you ask the vendor if they have the one you want or would be willing to get you one… Sorry.

      1. Haha, you’re welcome. c:

        (I used QuirkyChowder as my name ’cause thats my blogspot account. x3)

  2. did you get iron on letters or did you print them out on some special paper? i’m gonna try and make my own.

    1. From the post:
      “I picked up a package of iron-on Avery T-shirt Transfers (for light colours) and we were all set to go… I went back online and found as many original penny tees sayings as I could, automatically disregarding any that I thought were just a little too weird or might offend a parent (i.e. “Uncle Female”, “Mister Duck Lumps”, and “Butter Me Queasy”). I then designed the decals keeping the words small and compact so they would fit on a child’s smaller shirt (and to save on the number of transfers used)…”

      But I’m sure letters would work just as well.

    1. The shirts worked out to about $3 a piece because of the big Old Navy sale, and the decals were about $0.50 once I halved them for each shirt…

  3. Your, omg a genius. If you made a video of this or took pictures of the steps you could start a phenomenon. I am really jealous of your son getting to have a penny tee. Oh and If you wanted to make the shirt have more detail, you could have hot glued a penny on one of the sleeves to make it look like the show.

  4. ideas!:
    MUSHROOM ROOM
    AUNTY GRANDPA
    GOAT TOOTHPASTE
    GRAPE WAR
    JUMBO HOBO
    FISHY MEAT
    OHNO TOMATO
    STICKY BEEF
    PIEFUL FRUIT
    MEXICAN SPONGES
    FOXY GRANDPA (spongebob)
    STIFF LOOROLL
    GOOFY PIGEON

  5. How did you design the words?? Me and my friend want to make some because we are going to see Miranda Cosgrove in concert! Thank you:)

    1. I used a program called “Microsoft Picture It”, but you could do the same thing on Microsoft Word or any other program that lets you alter font/size/etc.

  6. Where did you get the iron on sayings. I looked all over the Internet and I couldn’t just find the sayings. I only found pictures of the shirt.

  7. Also, I’m on old navy.com but I can’t find the shirts that have one color on the shirt and then a different color ring.

    1. They are called “Ringer T’s” and I’m not sure why they wouldn’t have them… They’re out there, but you may have to get them elsewhere if Old Navy no longer carries them.

  8. Sorry about another question. But do you have any ideas how you could have a different colored sleeve. Thanks

    1. Hey, Maddie.
      I have absolutely no “ownership” over the iCarly tees, so it’s not my place to mind. 😉
      The only thing to worry about would be Nickelodeon… and whether or not they mind.
      Good luck!
      K

  9. Mine are:fat toe,purple pickle,captain sausage,dreamy donkey,toasted hair,doughnut dash,fat cheese,raspberry hippo,flying pig,tightly whitey,fish bacon,funky monkey,banana chizz,green cloud,dry couch

  10. Hey, my friend and I were trying to find where we can get penny tees and we stumbled upon your website and were wondering if you still make these. If you do please contact me.

    1. I have made them for fans before. If you are interested, please email me and I can fill you in on the details. =) Kate

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