Shirt to Toddler Ruffle Dress Tutorial

So I thought Little Miss needed something to wear for the big game this weekend. And by big game I mean Oklahoma State v. Georgia. (Go Pokes!) Or if you're not a big OSU fan, you could make a similar dress for Halloween. Little Miss will probably wear this all fall, just layered with a long sleeve tee.

I've loved Jessica's T-Shirt to Toddler Dress Refashion and so this is my version. Some notes, the ruffles on the neck and hem were pieced together. I used material from a repurposed shirt sleeve so they weren't quite the length I needed. Use what you've got. If you plan on using one long piece you'll need about double the length to get the correct ruffle length. Make sense?? So say my neck and shoulder measurement was about 20 inches, I would cut a strip of fabric about 40 inches to ruffle. And longer is always better cause you can just trim what you don't need.

**don't forget click pics to enlarge**

Make your ruffles. More info here. Just remember long stitch length, high tension and sew. Refer back to my original dress, the straps came out from the armholes, not straight up from the neck. So place your ruffles accordingly.



In my last ruffle refashion, I used sticky back tear away stabilizer to help my knit from stretching out while sewing. **TIP: I used tissue paper this time. It's way cheaper than tear away stabilizer, and I've always got loads of used tissue paper laying around from birthday presents. I've used tissue paper before when sewing satin, to help it from sliding so much. So thought I'd try it again. It worked great! Just cut strips about two inches wide and place under where you're sewing your ruffle in place.




Little Miss modeling her new ruffle dress. And her new bow I made :).

Happy Sewing!