Ruffle Embellishment on a T-shirt

Remember last week when I said I wanted to start making some dresses for my daughter? Well I decided to start out small and just embellish a plain shirt I bought on sale at Target (I think it was around $4 because it's long sleeve and they're already bringing out their summer stuff. Sure...because isn't everyone shopping for a swimsuit in February?). {Completely off topic sidenote: The other night I told my daughter I was putting a "plain" shirt on under her pj's. The next night she asked for her "airplane" shirt and it took me forever to make the connection. I love how literal their little minds are! Ok, back to the T-shirt}. With a few scraps of fabric, a "plain" T-shirt and about 30 minutes, I had this little beauty...


I just love how it turned out! I'm thinking about adding a couple of ruffles along the bottom, too, but I couldn't wait to show you my handiwork. It was so simple, it seems silly to even do a tutorial, but I'm going to do it anyway ;)

I wanted my ruffles to have a tiered look so I sewed them to overlap and I made each layer a little longer than the previous. I cut 3 strips of fabric, each at 8"x4", 10"x4" and 12"x4". I wanted my finished ruffles to be 4", 5" and 6" so I doubled their length to account for the gathering.



I folded each strip in half (right sides together) and sewed a straight stitch down the long side. Then I turned each "ruffle" and hand sewed a basting stitch. Then I pulled my basting stitch to create the "ruffle".


I had to play around a little bit with each of the ruffles to get the length and look I wanted. Then I laid them out on the shirt and started with the bottom ruffle, pinning it in place. Then I simply sewed it to the shirt with a straight stitch along the top. Because my basting stitch was so loose, I was able to just pull it out. You could use a stitch-ripper if you needed to.



Pin the next level, sew.



Pin the final level, sew. And here you have it!


I have some onesies I'm totally going to do this to for my shop and baby shower gifts! So the next time you see a "plain" T-shirt on sale, grab it! You could turn it in to something spectacular!


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