Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Ruffle Dress Refashion

I've seen a lot of cute things in blogland made from this ruffle fabric and have been wanting to try it. Until recently it wasn't available in my local fabric shops and at $17 + a yard I didn't jump on it right away. One day I saw this XLarge top at a thrift store and grabbed it for a few dollars. I thought it would be an inexpensive way to see how I liked sewing with the ruffled material.

I used the Sienna Dress pattern that I had from Lil' Blue Boo to make a cute little dress for my toddler:

Since the shirt already had some interesting details with the crisscrossing ruffles at the top of the shirt, I was able to keep that same look by my pattern placement. I reused the shimmery neckline to finish my smaller neckline adding a flower made of the ruffles to cover the spot where my new seam ended up. I think I might add a few more flowers there so it doesn't look so lonely.

Cutting the ruffled fabric and sewing it, I had to be careful to keep the ruffles laying the same direction, so it took a little more pinning than I might otherwise have needed. Matching the ruffles at the shoulder seams to the front was a little tricky too. Overall, however, it is a quick way to get a much more complicated looking dress from a really simple style. I've already got plans for a few more ruffle fabric dresses for my older girls.

I couldn't get baby girl to pose wearing her new dress and wasn't up for a power struggle over a blog post, but she does like it and looks so cute in it!

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