Ruffle Me Up Maternity Fashion Tutorial

June 6, 2011 by Jessica 4 Comments

Good Monday Morning! It’s great to get the week started. We had a very full and busy weekend so I think I will take it easy today. I see pool time in the future as it’s going to get almost 100 degrees today. Whew. Today I’m over at Alida’s on I Make Stuff with a simple little maternity refashion tutorial.

She is doing a fabulous series on refashioning and even did a challenge herself: $50 to refashion a whole months worth of new summer outfits.

She is having guest bloggers and giveaways. I suggest you check it out 🙂

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virginiamae says

June 6, 2011 at 7:34 am

Very cute! =) It’s so fun to be a part of watching your baby grow. I’m not cute preggers so I don’t have many pictures. =(

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Seaweed and Raine says

June 6, 2011 at 7:48 am

Sweet Jess! I might just have to pop over and have a look at the refashion. You are looking really good – go mama!

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CraftCrave says

June 6, 2011 at 10:58 pm

Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [07 Jun 12:00am GMT]. Thanks, Maria

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maternity fashion says

September 1, 2011 at 6:41 am

Wow! This is amazing blog. The web site is very helpful. I’d rather spend more on good fitting. I was looking for; I’ve added myself on to your feed, keep up the good work. I found so many interesting gift ideas in your blog. Its post very helpful for maternity wear. I first time saw this type of fantastic dress. Thanks for sharing with us.

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Ruffle Me Up Maternity Fashion Tutorial

July 10, 2008 by Jessica 7 Comments

This is a refashion I did for Alida’s Refashionista event. I’m a little bit pregnant (as you can see below ;), so I’m sharing a thrifty maternity refashion. Of course, you don’t have to be pregnant to make and wear this though.

I had this shirt in mind for a while, so when Alida told me about her refashionista event, I knew what to do.

I still love ruffles very much and was very happy with how this turned out. Let’s get to sewing:

What you will need:
–A thrifted dress shirt (if making this and pregnant, make sure it is big enough to go around your belly. Check out the men’s shirts too for larger sizes.)
–Coordinating fabric for the ruffle (You could repurpose an old sheet, find some fabric at the thrift store, search through your stash at home, etc. I choose white because I had some extra white fabric at home I could use for the ruffle.)

1. Take your shirt,

and cut off the collar and sleeves.

If you cut really close on the collar, it will look like it was made that way. No fraying edges at all.

If you don’t have a serger, I suggest cutting really close to the seam on the arm holes as well. But, leave the seam allowance part there and it will look like the edge was serged. I ended up cutting all of this off and doing a rolled hem with my serger around the armholes.

2. To make mine have a better fit, I shirred three rows on the front right below the chest line. This helps bring it in. If your shirt is a lot bigger, you might want to shirr the back in as well. You could even create a drawstring case or sew in elastic as other options.

3. Prepare a fabric piece for the ruffle. Make sure it is about double the length from one bottom of the front to around the neck and to the other bottom (where the ruffle will go). Choose the width you like. I had to sew two pieces together to create a strip long enough. I then also did a rolled hem on the edges so it wouldn’t unravel. But, I also think raw edges are beautiful and fun too! And of course you could always fold over the edges twice and sew in place to have no raw edges.

4. Next, sew a long stitch (baste) down the middle of the fabric strip {see above picture}. Make sure not to back stitch as you will be gathering next.

5. Now pull on the thread that came from the bobbin (the bottom thread) until it is all ruffled. Even the ruffle out to the length needed to go around the shirt. If you desire, finish the raw edges on the short ends at this time as well. Again, I just did a rolled hem over them, but you could leave them raw or fold them under.

6. Pin the ruffle in place on the shirt. I placed it right on the edge of the front flaps so I wouldn’t sew over any buttons, but it would still cover up that area when the shirt was buttoned.

7. Sew in place and you are all done!

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Comments

JaneMH says

June 6, 2011 at 9:39 pm

Darling. I LOVE your blog such great ideas. Question: To shirr the shirt how would you go about that? Do you need a serger? Never done that before but I love the look.

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Happy Together says

June 7, 2011 at 8:33 pm

You can find a download to a great tutorial on how to shirr here:
http://portabellopixie.typepad.com/portabellopixie/2008/01/shir-madness-tu.html

You sew like normal, you just use elastic thread in the bobbin. You also need to use a long stitch. Most regular sewing machines will do this easily, but there are lots of tutorials on issues that you might have if it doesn’t.

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Carmen Ferreira says

July 4, 2011 at 12:52 pm

QUE IDÉIA MARAVILHOSA!
LOVELY
BEIJOS

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Anonymous says

July 17, 2011 at 10:32 am

This is a beautiful makeover..What is the width of your ruffle (prior to cutting)..I love it!

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Happy Together says

July 18, 2011 at 9:45 pm

I honestly don’t remember! I just had a big piece of white fabric. I had to sew to pieces together to make it long enough. You want it to be at least 1/3 longer in length than the length of where you are putting it.

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Mama Kat says

August 20, 2011 at 12:27 pm

I linked your tutorial today on my blog 🙂 http://peaceloveandowls.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-am-terrified-of-my-kitchen.html

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Nikell says

October 18, 2011 at 4:01 pm

This is gorgeous! I’ve had your blog bookmarked for a while. I plan to try your cowl tutorial and I saw this. I love ruffles so, this will be on my refashion to-do list. ^_^

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