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How to Restyle Two Tees into One with a Fancy Ruffle

Jennifer Stern, contributor

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Here is my new and improved design—very Anthropologie!

Jen Stern

This is a perfect top to wear under a sweater.

Jen Stern

Here is my ruffle disaster top. Those two pink tees looked so innocent lying next to each other at the start...who knew?

Jen Stern

Here is my new and improved design—very Anthropologie!

Photo: Jen Stern

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Take your T-shirt to a new level by adding a ruffle down the front. Ruffles are tricky; they can be feminine or too froufrou for me...it's a fine line. I like this look because it's pretty and slimming—the vertical rows of knit draw the eye away from the bustline (I'm sorry to report that my bustline has taken part in an expansion project without my consent). Anyway, I took two tees out of my summer stash and tried this twist on a standard tee shirt. I really thought they were going to work so well together...unfortuntately, by the time I was done, I realized that I had created something destined for an episode of What Not to Wear or "Where on earth did you find that thing?" I didn't want to give up on the idea, though, so I made up another one using a single color. I'm happy to report that I was pleased with the results! So, as you decide which two tees to use, keep my pink and darker pink choices in mind. Ideally, pick one tee that fits you well (to add the ruffle to) and one that's shrunk or ill fit to chop up to make the ruffle. I'm playing with my Tee pattern, which I constructed from a larger-than-I-can-wear tee (up to the point where you would take the ribbing off the neckline of a ready-to-wear tee). I was dying to try bias fabric in the center front piece, and I suspect that might be part of my problem. While it doesn't work well as a design idea, the bias woven fabric did work with the knit fabric when I was considering construction and fit...another tee, another day!

What you'll need:

• Two T-shirts, either two of the same color or two that go with each other better than my pink ones!
  
• Thread to match
• Marking pen or chalk
• Pins

Below are my two tees. The tee on the right is way too big for me, so I used my Tee pattern to cut out a slimmer shape to work with. The tee on the left is made of a lightweight knit that will make nice ruffles. When I was pulling stuff together to make this top, I found some lace pieces that I considered adding to the ruffle...I decided that they were a bit much. (I'll save them for a future project.)

Notice the nice topstitching detail. I made sure that I took advantage of the hem. It's a win-win because the color of the stitching matched the bias fabric I used to make my tee and the hem is already finished!

Cut apart the tee that you are going to use to make the ruffles. The sleeves make great ruffles because the shape of most sleeves has a nice variation in width that you can take advantage of when you're making your ruffles.

You will probably need both sleeves to make enough ruffles to go down the front of your tee—I needed six.

Cut the sleeve into 5-inch segments.

Use the narrower segments at the top of the tee and the wider ones at the hem.

If you are restyling a tee, take off the ribbing around the neckline. Draw a vertical column down the front of your tee, then cut it out. I started with a 2-inch width at the neckline and ended with 3.5 inches at the hem.

I used bias rayon batik fabric in the center front of my tee.

Cut out the vertical column.

Use the cutout as a pattern to make a base piece to sew the ruffles to. Add 1/2 inch to the sides for seam allowances.

If your tee was fitted to start, it's important to add some fabric back in to make up for the knit that will be lost in the seam allowances when you insert the ruffles into the front.

Fold the knit segments in half and even up the edges—they don't need to be exactly a certain shape because you can trim them later when you position them onto the fabric backing. Set up your sewing machine to gather the top edges of the knit segments (straight stitch with a length of 4.0 and loosen the tension a bit).

Use a different color in the bobbin so you can easily identify it—it's the bobbin thread that you pull to gather up the fabric.

Sew two rows of gathering stitches—one close to the edge and the second 1/4 inch from the first.

Sew two rows of gathering stitches 1/4 inch apart.

Pull the bobbin thread to gather up the knit.

Using a relatively small stitch results in nice small gathers.

Gather the top edge of the widest knit segment and position it at the bottom of the backing fabric piece. Pin in place.

Don't gather the first 1/4 inch of the ruffle on each side so the knit won't get caught in the seam when you insert it back into the front of your tee. Evenly distribute the gathers across the rest of the ruffle.

Sew the ruffle along the outside edges and across the top to hold it in place.

Stitch the ruffle 1/8 inch away from the edge along the sides. To keep the top edge stretchy, I used a three-step zigzag to sew it to the backing fabric.

Continue adding ruffles until you have covered the entire backing fabric.

Cover all of the backing fabric with ruffles.

Pin the ruffle to the cut edge of your tee. Sew or serge together.

Check to be sure that none of the ruffles are in the way before you start stitching.

When I checked the look of my ruffle, I decided to gather the top ruffle again to take in a bit before I finished the neckline.

The top ruffle looks too wide at the neck for my taste.

I used the same rayon batik to finish the neckline. Now all that's left to decide is how to finish the armholes—what do you think, knit or rayon...or is it even worth finishing?

I'm going to wait to see what your opinions are!

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Comments (2)

JenniferStern writes: Thanks Craft Crazy22 I like the idea of using the darker knit to finish the armholes. I think the batik threw it over the edge!
Posted: 11:39 am on December 8th

Craft_Crazy22 writes: I think you should finish the armholes just with some bias tape of similar color as the ruffles. It looks good short sleeved. And I don't think that the pink contrast is as bad as you think it is. What I do think though, is that the batik should've been something different. At first it looked like a darker lace. That would've been really pretty to have that extra detail. But with what you have going now, I'd definitely keep it sleeveless! so cute!
Posted: 9:15 pm on December 6th

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