embroidery pics and questions about t-shirts

I've decided not to do a Stitch School post today. I'm sure you're all out celebrating the holiday or picnicking or something other than sitting at your computer. At least I hope you are. We're finishing up planting the vegetable garden today and doing various outdoor chores.

But in case you have stopped by today I'll leave you with some pretty pictures of an embroidered table scarf with what are probably thousands of French knots. No, I didn't count them but just look at it. This scarf isn't in perfect shape but I didn't pay a lot for it and the embroidery is just extraordinary.



There are a couple more pictures on my Flickr page (click the photo). It's all French knots except for the leaves and daisy petals, packed very tightly together to form a solid mass.

I also found this very cool example of spiderweb flowers on Ebay. This is what they look like when you leave some of the underlaying structure showing:



And finally, I have some questions from readers about embroidering on t-shirts that I can't answer. So I'm turning it over to you guys:

I would like to embroider something on a t-shirt for my daughter. Can you recommend a stabilizer suitable for this type of project?—Anita

I recently embroidered a t-shirt for a toddler. Do you typically put some sort of lining on the back of the embroidery? I used some back stitching so there is quite a bit of thread on the back side. I have considered using iron-on interfacing as a backing but am worried that it will cause visible lumpiness when the shirt is worn.—Andrea

Can anyone recommend stabilizers or give any general advice about embroidering on t-shirts? Thanks in advance (and thanks from Anita and Andrea, too)!