sewing saturday.. a white ruffle top from scratch.

Sewing Saturday! Yesterday afternoon, I used semi sheer vintage fabric with a subtle stripe to make a ruffle blouse.

First, I cut a rectangle out of the striped fabric. For reference, I measured a pullover blouse I have that has very little stretch to see how wide I needed the blouse to be (since the top I made was a pullover top, as well). I also measured another top I had to get an idea for height. I added seam allowances, then cut. I also cut out straps - two long rectangles to be folded over.

Ironing has become my best friend when it comes to sewing. I pressed the bottom hem, then pressed a casing at the top of the blouse (press a small amount, like 1/4 inch, at the top, then fold it over 5/8", or whatever size will allow the elastic to pass through, and press again). I also made a casing for the waist elastic by cutting a thin rectangle the length of the blouse and pressing it the same way I did with the casing at the top. Since I decided to use an eyelet ruffle at the top, I folded it over and pressed it.

Then, I did some sewing. I sewed the bottom hem. I also sewed the casing at the bottom fold. Once that was finished, I placed the eyelet ruffle over the top casing and sewed it on at the top fold. I folded the shoulder straps lengthwise and sewed on the raw edges, turning them inside out and pressing them again.

Once the elastic was pulled through the top casing, I sewed the blouse together and pressed it so the seam was in the center back. I then turned the blouse inside out and sewed the casing onto the inside, 4 inches from the bottom, leaving enough room to slip the elastic in. I pulled the elastic through, sewed the casing shut, and attached the shoulder straps to the top.

That's all there is to it! No darts, no pattern pieces. A simple, effective, and FAST project from scratch. From here, you can add any sort of embellishment you want, if it's decorative lace or buttons or a bow or anything at all.

I tried the blouse on and it fits well. I think I'm going to wait to post photos until my next Sewing Saturday project, because I'd like to pair the two together. Next week's sewing will be high waisted scalloped shorts! At the moment, I'm trying to decide what kind of fabric to use. I'm choosing between a khaki colored velvet, brown corduroy, or yellow liberty print cotton. There's also some dark denim fabric at our Goodwill that I might steal (by steal, I mean buy) and make into shorts. What's your pick?

And it's getting dangerously close to the end of May.. which means no more buying clothes for me until September! I have to do a shopping run really soon.