Revamp: Tank top with ruffles tutorial

I love a bargain. I mean, really, really LOVE a bargain.

So when I saw that this cream long length tank top was only $5 at a factory warehouse sale, I had to have it.

The only problem with the tank top is that even with the diagonal detailing, it was still a bit boring for my liking and it needed a bit somethin’ somethin’.

So introducing, the tank top with ruffles tutorial.

Materials:

1 x boring tank top

Measuring tape

Cutting Mat

Scissors or rotary cutter

Fabric

Thread

Sewing Machine

Pins

Lay the tank top on a flat surface. I decided the best place to add my ruffled fabric is along the existing diagonal seams. Using a measuring tape, measure the length of where you want you ruffled fabric to start and finish. My seam measured 39cm. If you want the ruffled fabric to go the along the entire seam, you would double it. I only wanted the ruffled fabric to go half the length, so this piece of ruffled fabric, only needed to be 39cm.

Next cut the fabric by the length above, by your desired width. You can cut your fabric to any width, but I chose 5cm because that was the same width as the detailing on the tank. I also chose a polyester/cotton Gingham, but a 100% cotton fabric would work just as easily, so my fabric dimensions were 39cm by 5cm.

I wanted raw seams with some fraying, but not so much fraying that it would make a mess in my washing machine. So set your sewing machine to zig zag, and leaving a ½ cm gap edge, sew all the way around the fabric. If you want to avoid fraying, zig zag along the very edge of the fabric, or if you have an overlocker, stitch along the edge.

Next you need to set up the sewing machine to create the ruffles. The easiest way to do this is to first set your machine to a straight stitch. Next, set the machine to the longest stitch, for me it was 4. Then, you need to set your machine to the tightest tension, for my machine it was 9.

Leaving plenty of thread at the beginning, locate the middle length of the fabric (just eyeball it) and then slowly sew along the middle of the fabric. It should look like this:

Once you get to the end of the fabric, stop sewing and pull the fabric from behind the machine and cut, ensuring you leave plenty of thread at the end.

If the ruffles are too tight, gently pull the thread, and push the fabric outwards to the end, making sure not to break the thread.

If the ruffles are too loose, gently pull the thread, and push the fabric inwards to the middle, again making sure not to break the thread.

Once the ruffles are the desired length, position the ruffled fabric onto the tank top with sewing pins. After the fabric is fixed in place, readjust your stitch length and tension for a normal straight stitch, and stitch along the middle (where you just stitched to created the ruffles), pulling out the pins as required, and making sure you double back the start and finish.

I then repeated the process to make additional ruffled fabric, and here is the end result.

Not so boring now, huh? Let me know what you think of my first revamp tutorial in the comments!

xoxo Bronwyn

My Mrs Bucket (pronounced Bou-quet) List

Have you heard of a 365 project?

If you haven’t, you should. I first heard about it a few years ago when a TV personality decided to take a quirky picture of himself every day for a year, and once he was done, he held an exhibition. I thought that this was an awesome idea and great way to waste time add more things to my busy day.

But after I did a bit more digging, I found out about 365 grateful. This is where people document (and take photos) of something they are grateful for everyday. I like this idea much more. And so for the last two years I’ve told myself, “You’re going to start your 365 project on 1 January,” but then every year I forget. I don’t have to start on 1 January, but it just seems like the best way to start a new year.

So while I wait 332 days until next year, I’ve decided to do a 30 before I’m 30 bucket list instead, or a Mrs Bucket (Bou-quet) list as my grandma likes to call it. Check it out!

Bronwyn’s 30 before 30 Mrs Bucket List:

1) Have a Baby
2) Make a (proper) quilt
3) Participate in a 5km (or ambitious 10km) run
4) Learn a new language
5) Ride on the Portsea to Queenscliff ferry
6) Read a book that is at least 500 pages in a single session, start to finish
7) Learn how to shuffle (LMFAO style)
8) Attend a Bikram Yoga class
9) Watch the entire Harry Potter movie series
10) Play 18 holes of golf
11) Learn to play the ukulele
12) Memorise the lyrics of a rap song
13) Fail, then try again
14) Learn to use a dSLR camera
15) Forgive the selfish, the insensitive and the hurtful
16) Go to a live recording of a TV show
17) Hike a big mountain for at least 5 hours
18) Attend the opera
19) Make 1000 origami paper cranes
20) Start a blog
21) Visit Tasmania
22) Grow my own herbs
23) Go without TV for a month
24) Dye (part of) my hair purple
25) Pay it forward – by either buying a stranger coffee, paying for a strangers meal in the drive thru, or taping exact change for a can of soft drink to a vending machine
26) Try stand up paddle boarding
27) Write at least 30 thank you letters to waiters, sales people, customer service reps
28) Get a tattoo
29) Go zorbing
30) Purposely leave 30 x one dollar coins on the ground

Now if you Google ideas for 30 before your 30, you will find a lot more physical feats, such as jumping out of a plane, or bungee jumping. And you will also find a lot of travel feats such as, walking the Great Wall of China, or climbing Mt Kilimanjaro. But since I am seriously time constrained with a) being 5 months pregnant and b) turning 30 in 30 weeks (what a coincidence!) I’ve had to soften the things that made the list.

But before I get any comments of, “you cant do such in such because you’re pregnant,” Frankie says relax, and don’t worry I haven’t forgotten. I couldn’t make everything on the list easy, I like a challenge, and I always perform better under pressure, so those things, such as Bikram yoga and getting a tattoo, will have to wait until after the baby comes, but before my birthday.

But since I like to be organised, I think I need some back-ups, just in case I cant complete some things on my list such as zorbing. My friends went to the Philippines last year and did it there, and I know you can go zorbing in New Zealand too, but does anyone know if I can do this Melbourne?

So give me your ideas in the comments on some back-ups that I should consider, or let me know what’s on your bucket list!

xoxo Bronwyn

P.S I can already cross off one item on my list, this blog!

20) Start a blog

Don’t you just love crossing things off your list? Now its 29 things to do in 30 weeks!