DIY Ruffle Shirt

Ruffles. Don't they just add a touch of girliness (if you will) to a garment? The answer is, of course, yes. And as far as garments go, they are one of the easiest embellishments you can do yourself. This tutorial will instruct you how to add ruffles to a plain Tshirt. You can use the same color shirt, or do what i did & use a contrasting color to keep things interesting. i am using a fitted tee i found at a thrift store for $1.10, & a too old & too big Tshirt from elementary school that i actually kept. (Yes, the light gray tee is an XL, & it's from 8th grade. i wore super baggy clothes when i was 13. Don't judge.)


To make my ruffle Tshirt
You will need:
Needle, thread, scissors
2 shirts. One that fits & one that is too big.

Let us begin!
1. First, cut the sleeves off of the big shirt. Keep the hems of the sleeves intact. Also cut off the bottom hem, about 3 inches of it, all the way around.

2. Cut the sleeves open and the bottom of the shirt open. You will have 3 strips of fabric. 2 sleeves, 1 bottom hem. Cut each piece down, keeping the length, but making it thinner. One slightly bigger than the next. For example, cut the first sleeve down to 2 inches. Make the next sleeve 3 inches. Make the bottom hem 4 inches.

3. Ruffle each piece. To do this, start at one end and fold over the fabric. Pin the fold in place at the top of the fabric (not the hemmed side).


4. Make these folds all along each strip of fabric and pin each fold in place.



5. Hand or machine sew the folds in place. Keep the pins in as you sew (but be careful!) & remove them as you sew & secure each fold.

6. Now you should have 3 ruffled strips of fabric, 2 the same length (the sleeves ) & one that is slightly wider & longer (the bottom hem).

Arrange each ruffled piece along the Tshirt. It can be in any design, but i did an off center, cascading design for mine. i arranged the smaller pieces on top & the larger piece on the bottom for a slightly dramatic look.

7. Pin the pieces in place & again, sew the pieces on, removing the pins as you go.

Ruffle shirt!