Ruffles

I LOVE that my daughter has finally taken some interest in her girly side!! It has seemed to grow in the last couple years too!!! (Best part is she is a HUGE sports fan too, so she is a perfect mix!!)

I absolutely LOVE ruffles....on pants, shirts, dresses, skirts, home decor, you name it I think you can put ruffles on it! So of course when I saw this ruffle skirt I just knew I had to give it a try!! Even better that it is made with t-shirt scraps so it is low budget!

Ruffle Mania Skirt

Supplies:

• tshirts ( I worked with 4 adult and 2 smaller kids sized)
• thread
• scissors
• elastic

1. To begin you will need to make a base for your skirt. I used a sz medium adult tshirt and cut off the arms and sewed the openings closed. Depending on the length you like you may be able to skip that step.

2. Your next step will be to cut strips out of the tshirts. I cut mine about 2" in width, but depending on how wide you want your ruffles you can cut them wider or thinner.

{Here is my collection of tshirts, I mixed colors and patterns}

3. Next you will need to ruffle your tshirt strips. (Here is a link to a tutorial if you are unfamiliar with ruffling, see kate sew)

4.The next step for me was to layout my ruffles...mixing the solid with the print. I also at this point drew lines on my skirt so that my ruffles would be lined and would be evenly spaced and straight on the skirt.

5. I now began sewing my ruffles on one at a time. This took some time and be sure to make them go all the way around the skirt, varying where the each begins that gives you the mixed up look. You can also make your ruffles longer so they go all the way around without mixing on each layer. Be sure to leave about 2-3" to make the waist band.

6. To do my top waist band...I sorta imporvised by cutting a strip to cover the top of my base skirt. I did this since my base shirt actually had a design on it, but if yours is plain you won't need to do this. For the waist band, fold over the top of the of the base skirt and sew, leaving a 2" opening to put in the elastic. I cut the elastic between 2-3" smaller then the waist measurement that way its comfortable.

7. To add the elastic, sew in one spot along the waistband. I chose what would be the side. Next, put a safety pin at the other end of the elastic and move it through the waistband. Once you have it all the way around sew the end to the other end.

8. Wear and enjoy! Here is my final project! I just LOVE how it turned out and so does my daughter, now it's time to make one for me!!

{Please excuse the strings....I forgot to go back and take another pic!!}