Toddler T-shirt revamp: Ruffles

I sorted out Lili’s old/too small clothes the other day. I kept everything (who knows when another little Myburgh might come along) but I wanted to try and revamp some new shirts. Her clothes are mostly bright colours so they all sort of match. I picked a few plain shirts that were way too small now and teamed them up with new T-shirts. So this will be a series of Toddler T-Shirt Revamps. First up is Ruffles. I followed a tutorial on Tea Rose Home – hers is for an adult shirt, but it doesn’t matter; principle stays the same.

How many shades of pink are there?

I used 3 shirts in different shades of pink.

Broke my heart to cut these up

The hardest part (for me) was actually cutting up the old shirts. It felt almost sacrilegious. Same feeling you get for accidentally writing in a library book – THAT feeling. But after removing the sleeves and seams I felt more comfortable.

Layer the strips and trim

I used the back panels of the T-shirt and cut strips lengthwise  - 3 of each colour. The lighter pink strips I cut a bit narrower. Then placed the lighter strip on top of the darker. {The stripy, heart, psychedelic background is actually Lili’s placemat. Reckon I can’t cut on my table cloth – needed a non-fabric surface}

Lili is always there to lend a helping hand. Can you see where I sewed the strips? I used that purple thread on the bobbin though

Using the widest stitch on my sewing machine, I sewed down the middle of the layered strips.

Pull a thread and gather.

Carefully pulled on a thread and gathered up the fabric to make a ruffle!

Pin the ruffles

I trimmed 2 of them to be a bit shorter – they will go to the sides of the centre one. The shirt isn’t as wide as an adult one, so I think 3 ruffles will do.

It ttok me almost the whole day to make, so this pic was very dark; needed lots some Photoshopping.

Actually stitching the ruffles wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be – it was the EASIEST part!

Thanks to Sachiko for writing such an easy tutorial!

Ready to wear

This was taken a few days later after a wash. Lili slept in her shirt that first night when I asked her to try it on. She refused to take it off, lol!

Parties I link to

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