Ruffled T-Shirt Dress

Sew an easy ruffled dress with a t-shirt and some fabric. This gorgeous dress is easy to create with a shirt and 1 yard of fabric. Find some knit fabric that matches your t-shirt and add some ruffles for a gorgeous dress.

Supplies and Tools:

• T-shirt {I would recommend sizing up one size}
• Coordinating knit fabric
• Sewing machine {I used VM5200}
• Serger

Directions:

This is such a fun and easy project! Grab a yard of fabric and a t-shirt that matches the fabric and fits your child and let’s get started. I like to shorten the shirt before continuing. You can create the top as long or as short as you want, but I cut mine three inches below the arms.

From there we will cut the shirt to add ruffles. Above I mentioned that I would size up one size for the shirt, this is because we will lose width when adding in the ruffles. Divide the shoulder seam in half and then angle the cut down and towards the middle of the shirt. Here is my first cut.

I use my first cut line as a guide to cut the other side. You really can cut it however you want, just make sure both sides are the same.

Once you have the shirt cut on both sides, we will cut our fabric. I like to cut the skirt first so I know how much fabric I have left. My skirt is about 20 inches long, but you can cut your skirt at any length. Measure your child to determine length.

Next cut the ruffles. I cut mine 2.5” wide and double the length of the shirt top. Open up the shirt and measure the top to cut the ruffle length. The stretch of the fabric should go the long way on this ruffle.

Here are my two ruffles. I cut two widths of fabric, and then trimmed the length down to be around 40 inches.

With your sewing machine gather one long side of the ruffle piece. I left the other long side raw, it’s knit fabric so there is no need to finish the edge. Lengthen the stitch to 5.0 {as long as it goes} to gather the edge. When sewing make sure to leave long thread tails on either side so you can pull to gather.

Pull the bobbin thread to gather the fabric.

Slide the gathers along the fabric evening as you pull the threads.

When the ruffle is the same width of the shirt, tie off the threads and make sure the ruffles are even. I leave the shirt opened up so I can measure as I gather.

Now, flip the ruffle over so the right side of the ruffle is facing the right side of the shirt and pointed towards the neck.

Grab the other part of the shirt that you cut off and line up the shoulder seams. The right sides of the shirt should be facing each other and the ruffle is in the middle. With the shoulders lined up, pin or clip this spot.

Continue working down the front and back of the shirt with the ruffle between the two layers of shirt.

Your ruffle sandwich should look something like this. I used lots of clips to hold it all together.

Because the shirt and ruffle are knit fabric, you will need to sew this seam with a serger or stretch stitch on your sewing machine. I love my serger so I sewed this seam with that machine.

It’s looking pretty great at this point and the next step is to repeat with the other side.

When you have both sides of the shirt with ruffles attached, pin or clip the ruffles so they lay flat on the bottom of the shirt. This will help them stay in play while you sew on the skirt.

Now it’s time to move onto the skirt. I already cut my skirt to length, the width is one full cut of fabric {60”}. If you are making a larger size or adult size I would cut TWO widths of fabric. I sewed up the back seam to create a circle.

Then you will need to run one or two gathering stitches along the top of the skirt to gather the skirt to the same width of the top.

Just like with the shirt ruffles, pull the bobbin threads to gather the skirt until it’s the same width as the shirt. With right sides together pin or clip the shirt to the skirt.

Again this seam needs to be stretchy, so sew it with your serger or stretch stitch on a sewing machine. I used the serger for an easy all in one seam and finishing. I love that it’s able to sew through all the layers of fabric.

To finish the ruffled dress add a hem to the skirt. You can hem on your sewing machine or coverstitch. I put some coordinating thread on my coverstitch and got to work. I just used a ½ inch hem and narrow double needle to finish.

Now it’s time to wear and enjoy! Beautiful!!