Saturday, October 9, 2010

How To: Ruffled Shirt!

When I saw this really cute shirt at Modcloth, (via Pinterest) I instantly knew I wanted to make one! So I used an guy's long sleeve plaid button shirt to achieve the same effect. I gave the finished product to my beautiful younger sister. =) She is 6 months pregnant with her second child. This shirt makes a great maternity shirt because the second half has a lot of material. But, I am also making one for myself too =) My sister wouldn't let me take a picture of her...so I'll have to do for a model. =P

Step 1: Lay shirt out flat. I used another long sleeve shirt as a pattern on top. Make sure the shirt you use as a pattern fits you comfortably without any stretch.

Step 2: Fold the shirt up where your empire waist is. Cut right across this line and place the bottom part to the side, we will use that later.

Step 3: Cut out one side of your shirt, leaving room for seams. 

Step 4: Fold this side over and cut out the other side.

Step 5: Now it should look like this! =P

Step 6: Turn right sides together and sew up the arms and the sides.

Step 7: Cut some strips! I am using some old cotton blue stretchy fabric also. Cut out as many strips as you would like. I had 6 blue and 6 plaid. The plaid strips came from the extra arm pieces I cut off in steps 3 and 4.

Step 8: Now we are going to make ruffles. Cut your stitch length to the longest length.
Also put your tension to about medium. I had it on three when sewing the arms, so I put it on 6. FYI, I had to use a 7 for the stretchy blue fabric.
Sew! Straight down your strip, backstitching at the top and the bottom to hold the ruffle in place.
Step 9: Now you have all sorts of crazy ruffles.

Step 10: Arrange the ruffles on your shirt! Sew down and back over each ruffle, backstitching to hold it in place.

Step 11: Now it is time to attach your "skirt" piece. Pleat it along the front. I had four pleats in the front and four in the back. Make sure your button placket is set straight with the top. I pinned the side seams and the button placket to make sure they matched before adding my ruffles.

Step 12: Sew the top to the bottom!

Step 13: Pretty ruffled shirt for 6$!

5 comments:

EvaForeva said...

Looks awesome! And I really like the pattern!

Rebecca said...

Hi there! Firstly, this ruffled shirt is adorable :) Secondly, thanks so much for your sweet message; it made me so happy! I'm really pleased your skirt turned out well (I love the colour by the way). It's really addictive when you start making them as they are cheap, quick and so rewarding :) Have a great weekend!

Rebecca said...

Sorry - I forgot to answer your Q about my shoes. I wore black flats with my outfit. If I had red shoes, I might try out all 3 primary colours in one go :)

kmdelacruz said...

Super Cool!!

Unknown said...

Gawd I wish I was more familiar with my sewing machine. This is such a neat way to reuse a guy's shirt. I love Modcloth, they have so many great ideas. Thank you for linking up at Quartered Heart Crochet.