DIY Ruffled Hem Shirt Tutorial

When I saw Wendy wear this ruffled cami, I fell in love with the romantic cascade of fabric and decided to attempt my own.  I went for a more casual look with a shorter ruffle and stripes for visual interest under solid tops.  You can also certainly wear it on its own.  The concept is simply a peplum top with a dropped waist.  The peplum is also modified into a hi-lo type of hem.

Difficulty: Easy

Time: ~1.5 hrs

Pattern:

• Basic Tank Tutorial for the sleeveless top
• Peplum instructions below

Materials:

• 1 yard knit fabric

Steps:
A peplum is essentially composed of circles.  The outer circle is the peplum ruffle while the inner circle is cut out to fit your torso.

• Use the Basic Tank Tutorial from above to create your top.  You may need to shorten the length to slightly below your belly button in order for your ruffle to hit where you want it.
• Measure the hem of your top and divide it by 6.28 (this is essentially 2 * pi) to get your radius and then determine how long you want your peplum to be.
• My radius was 6".  I wanted the longest part of my peplum to be 9" and the shortest to be 6".
• Add your radius to your peplum length to get your circle size.  Mine was 15".  Using your measurement, cut out a square (mine was 15x15").
• Fold your square in half and in half once more.  Using a ruler, measure out your desired radius from your center point (where all the folds connect) and mark with chalk all around until you get the semblance of a quarter circle.  Do the same thing for your peplum length.  Cut out the inner circle and outer circle.

• If you were making a normal peplum, you'd be finished.  In order to create the hi-lo hem, you'll shorten the peplum length of one side.  To do this, fold your peplum in half once.  Using the same method as above, mark 6", 7",  and 8" to gradually meet back up to your 9" length.  Cut.

•  You'll wind up with kind of an oblong donut:

• Connect your peplum to the hem of your tank and then finish your edges.  I folded mine inwards and sewed.

Side view

You're finished!

Pin-spired: Striped Skirt w/ Lace Overlay DIY

Lately, I've been re-perusing my Pinterest inspiration board to get sewing ideas and came across 2 pins (Jean's lace dress and a sheer skirt overlay) that made me want to experiment with lace and stripes.

The result?

Difficulty: Easy

Time: ~1.5 hrs

Pattern: See patterning instructions here, but used normal pleats instead of box pleats

Materials:

• 1 yard of lace + 1 yard of striped fabric
• 9" invisible zipper
• Optional interfacing (more info in this tutorial)

Excited to tackle more Pinterest projects in the future!

Draped Neck Maxi Dress DIY Tutorial

Maxi dresses top my list for summer weather.  I love the comfort / ease associated with them and thought the draped neck might be a good variation from ones I've made in the past.

Difficulty: Easy

Time: ~1.5 - 2 hours

Materials:

• ~2 yards knit fabric (56-60" width)
• Existing sleeveless shirt that fits you well

Due to the length of the post and amount of photos, please see the rest of tutorial after the jump.

DIY Gingham Circle Skirt

What seemed like ages ago, I pinned this gingham dress by Oscar de la Renta for a future sewing project and forgot about it.  It wasn't until I saw this pop up on Sarah Vickers' Instagram that I remembered that I already had the gingham fabric on hand.

DIY Gingham Circle Skirt

Difficulty: Easy

Time: ~1.5 hrs

Materials:

• 1 yard of 56-60" wide fabric (I had 1.5 yds of 45" and I had to carefully piece out the back to match up the gingham squares.  While this is doable, it adds complexity to a project that should be easy)
• 9" invisible zipper
• Optional interfacing (more info in this tutorial)

I used this great tutorial for the skirt, but added a waistband (tutorial here) and zipper (tutorial here) instead of elastic.  I love the drape of a circle skirt - uber feminine.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Striped Tulle Skirt DIY Tutorial

I fell in love with the striped tulle skirt on Jenny of CrazyStyleLove in last week's preview post and decided to make my own rendition.  If you'd like to make your own, please see tutorial below :)

Difficulty: Easy

Time: ~1.5 - 2 hours

Materials:

• ~3/4 yard base fabric (the navy blue underskirt and waist band - I used satin for relative weight and stiffness to give me some volume)
• ~1/3 yard contrast stripe fabric (teal stripes - also used satin) or less if you use more than 1 type of contrast like Jenny's skirt
• I used one contrast since I couldn't find any other satin color that I wanted to incorporate
• ~3/4 yard tulle fabric 

Steps:
1. Cut out your pieces - all are easy rectangles.

• Skirt Base = I went with a 1-seam skirt and used my desired length x fabric width for my skirt rectangle.  
• In this case, 22 x 56"
• Skirt Waistband = Use your waist size + 2" in your desired width * 2 + 0.5" for seam allowance. 
• I like a 2" band, so my rectangle was 4.5 x 29"
• Tulle Stripes = Depending on your # of stripes, your width will vary, but your length should be the same as your skirt base.  
• I had 3 stripes.  Two stripes were 12 x 56" and the other was 2.5 x 56"
• Contrast Stripes = As with the tulle, the width will vary on your # of stripes and desired end result.  The length will be the same as the skirt base.
• I originally went with one stripe at 12 x 56", but felt like the tulle wasn't noticeable enough, so then went with two stripes at 6 x 56"

2. Sew your stripes together by placing the right sides together (note: tulle is the same on both sides) and sew along the long side of each piece.

Another note on tulle, it stretches quite easily, so be sure not to pull it during sewing, otherwise your lengths will be mismatched.

3.  Due to the sheerness of the tulle, you'll see some unsightly stripe connections.  To mitigate, fold your contrast stripe inwards and topstitch it down.

4.  Place the right sides of your skirt base with your newly striped tulle panel and sew along the long side with a long stitch for gathering.

5.  Fold your skirt in half on the long side and mark the center point.  Fold in half again on the long side to mark your quarter points.  Do the same thing for your waistband.  Line up your marks and pin them right sides together.  These reference points will help you gather your skirt evenly.

6. Tug on your bobbin thread to gather between all of your markings so that the gathered length of your skirt now matches your waistband.  With the pins still in place, sew along the length.  This will join your base skirt and striped tulle overlay to your waistband.

7.  Insert zipper using this tutorial and hem the base skirt to your desired length.  The tulle does not need to be hemmed, so if you'd like it shorter, simply cut it to your desired length.  I kept mine longer than the base skirt for a little bit of a peek-a-boo effect.

You're finished!