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