The Ruffled Gray T

Hello Readers. I hope you are happily sewing the day away. It is hard to find the time? I hear you. I can only sew when my little guy is sleeping. Today he took a big nap in the morning and decided he didn't need his afternoon nap. So, no sewing.

My project today is a T-shirt. It is the last XL T in my stash. I am a little bummed because I had so much fun with them. They are so easy to work with.

This is what it looked like in the beginning. It is a basic men's T-shirt. It is really big and roomy on me. It was light weight and a cotton/polyester blend. It is really soft and comfortable but the light weight of the fabric was going to be a problem.

I had already cut it up for a prior project that didn't work out so I had to figure out a way to work with the pieces. I had already cut off the bottom hem and two strips that were about 1 1/2" wide.

I decided to make a ruffle along the bottom. I stitched the two strips into one long piece and pinned it along the bottom of the shirt. I gathered it together as I attached it to the bottom of the shirt. My machine didn't like the thin material so I added some hem tape to stabilize it. It worked like magic. I love this stuff. It is so old I don't even know if it is still packaged like this. 

What a nice lady.                                                         So many pins!

I liked how the ruffle looked but the shirt still seemed kind of flat. I used elastic to gather up the fabric together along each side. (It became more interesting and much more flattering.) Below, right you can see the black hem tape from the ruffle and the black elastic on the side seams.

Kind of......blah.                                                         View inside out.

In the end I cut off the arms because I cut one with the scissors by accident. (Oops!) The shirt was big enough that it still looks like little cap sleeves. I liked it better this way. The gathered sides cover up the mom tummy, that in itself is reason enough to make 5 more shirts just like it. 

I also cut away the neck binding because with a raw edge on the bottom and on the arms it seemed silly not to. This way they all match.

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.