I like to buy clothing at the thrift store, especially one just a couple blocks from where I live. It’s massive and has great finds, from vintage to name-brand to everything in between. The other day I was there with my daughter and we came across a shirt that she liked, but it had a big hole in it (actually unusual for this store, most merchandise isn’t damaged). She’d already pointed out a dress she liked that had tiered ruffles, so I decided to try to recreate the look of the dress with the top she liked.
You’ll have to excuse my messy photos – I didn’t bother to clean up my work table before starting in on the project. Now you see what my small IKEA sewing table looks like 95% of the time, including when I’m sewing. It just collects so much crap that I don’t have a good space for or am too preoccupied to put away. My husband, the neat-freak, has somehow learned to live with my messy chaos. Poor guy!
Besides buying the damaged top, I also bought a like-new black tank top to use as the base of the top. Without detailing every step, I’ll give these basic explanations about how I constructed the top:
The plaid blouse had a cowl neck, smocked front and little puffy sleeves. I cut off the sleeves, cowl neck and back of the shirt, so I only had the smocked front. I cut the neckline until it was the shape I wanted, hemmed it and sewed it to the front of the tank top.
I then cut the lower portion of the top into equal sized strips to be the ruffles, hemmed the (visible) bottom of each ruffle, and sewed the top part of the ruffle to the tank top. I created gathers as I sewed the strip so that it would create ruffles and not just hang flat. I believe I created 6 ruffles. Then I sewed down the sides of each ruffle along the side seams of the tank top. She’ll wear the tank alone or with a cardigan over it. The end!
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