refashioned:: t-shirt to little girls top- version two

i promised a few of you a tutorial for the girls ruffle neck refashion- i finally did it! this top is slightly different but was constructed the same way. i hope it is clear enough. feel free to ask if you are unsure of anything. thanks for reading!

the before:

before: old navy t-shirt i bought for $4 several months ago.

pin the shoulders and the sides where you want the seams to be (this works better if your shirt is turned inside out- that way when you are ready to sew the seams you don't have to mess with moving the pins from the outside to the inside).

cut off the sleeves.


sew the shoulder seams and cut off the excess. do the same for the side seams. don't forget to save the scraps from the sides!


check the fit.


cut the banded neckline off. now we are ready for the fun part!


with elastic thread in the bobbin (hand wound- i stretch mine a little as i wind it) and the shirt right side out sew all the way around the neckline about a 1/4" from the edge. (actually, i didn't sew over the elastic casing on the center front but on a plain shirt you would sew all the way around) also i always start out shirring on a piece of scrap fabric because sometimes the elastic makes my machine jam. once i know it is sewing correctly i start on the garment.


shirred neckline.


check fit again (at this point Sutton was saying "why i put this shirt on 'gain mom?"


pin sleeves- the underside seam and where it will attach to the shoulder.


mark on the sleeve where the shoulder seam will be.


sew underarm seam and trim excess from where the shoulder seam will be (don't forget to account for a seam allowance).

make strips from the side scraps. mine are the width of my ruler about 1.5".

four strips ready for shirring.


with the elastic thread sew down the center of your strips feeding them in one after the other without stopping (you can also overlap the ends of the strips if you want). you are now done with the elastic thread- change out the bobbin for regular thread.


one long ruffle.


attach the sleeves.


pin the ruffle around the neckline having the edge of the ruffle extend past the edge of neckline. sew, trying to stay on the existing shirring stitch.


with the remaining ruffle make two more rows. pin.

sew down the center of each ruffle along the existing shirring seam.


done!!

here it is modeled by my happy girl.









part of DIY day at A Soft Place to Land.