Thanks for stopping by! We're two cousins who love to craft on the cheap and share our ideas. We'd love for you to stay awhile, pull up your Pin it! button, sewing machine, and let us know what you think!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Ruched Maternity Shirt

Have you joined the party yet?!  We'd love to have you!  :)
 
Remember this post
 
DIY Maternity Jeans 2
 
Well, here’s the tutorial for the shirt.  Now you can have a completely comfy and “new” maternity outfit!
 
ruched maternity shirt text
 
Meet Alison...again.  She is having baby #3 (a girl) in a few months, and she is going to let me love and snuggle on her baby whenever I want.  Right, Alison?!  ;)
 
ruched maternity shirt (17)_picnik
 
Anyway, I got about a million tee shirts off the $1 clearance rack at Walmart.  This tute features 1 1/2 of those shirts.  Here we go.
 
ruched maternity shirt (1)
 
Start with two shirts that are a bit too big for you.  The pink shirt wasn’t going to be long enough on it’s own, so I added some length with the grey one.
 
ruched maternity shirt (3)
 
Measure and cut the length you want the “layered” part of the shirt.  I used the other part of the shirt for another clothing refashion cardigan.  Save those scraps!  You never know when they’ll come in handy!  :)
 
ruched maternity shirt (4)
 
Line the grey band up with the hem of the shirt.
 
ruched maternity shirt (5)
 
Pin it down and stitch it into place.  I used my double needle with matching thread so that my seams wouldn’t be noticeable.
 
ruched maternity shirt (11)
 
See?  Now it’s time to do the ruched side seams.  You could do this with 1/4 inch elastic, but I didn’t have any.  I used elastic thread and shirred it.  I{heart}shirring. 
 
ruched maternity shirt (6)
 
Wind your bobbin with elastic thread by hand.  Don’t stretch it.
 
ruched maternity shirt (7)
 
Put the bobbin in the machine the way you normally would.
 
ruched maternity shirt (8)
 
Select a straight stitch, but lengthen it a bit.  Use a top thread that will blend into the shirt.  Start sewing!
 
ruched maternity shirt (9)
 
I pinned how high I wanted to sew, and again by the hem so that I’d know when to turn it around.  I did four rows of shirring on both sides of the shirt.  (Sorry about the lighting at my sewing machine…) 
 
ruched maternity shirt (10)
 
See?  I didn’t shirr the grey part of the shirt because I had pinkish thread in my machine.  I rethreaded it with grey and shirred the grey band on both sides.
 
 ruched maternity shirt (12)
 
I only shirred to the pink hem.
 
ruched maternity shirt (13)
 
Here’s what the shirring looked like when I was finished.
 
ruched maternity shirt (14)
ruched maternity shirt (15)
 
It looks MUCH cuter on…
 
ruched maternity shirt 16.5
 
The ruched side seams will give you more room for your expanding tummy.
Now you have another way to make your non-maternity wardrobe work for your pregnancy!
…and you’ll be able to by new clothes when you’ve got your little bundle of joy in your arms; not your belly!  :)
 
P.S.  Thanks for being my model, Alison!
 
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3 comments:

  1. CUTE!!! I wish I could sew good!! I can do a straight line but that is it, nothing fancy!!! Newest follower, and excited to get to know a Utah blogger!! Where in Utah are you? There are a lot of Seeley's around. My husbands family came from Sanpete County!!!

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  2. Thank you so much for this. I am brand new to sewing, as in I JUST got my first machine for Christmas this week. I watched the DVD on how to use it today. I am so glad that you included exactly what settings to put the machine on when sewing. That's really helpful.

    I have one question. When you said you did 4 rows of shearing on both sides of the shirt do you mean you went up and down the fabric 4 times so that there would be 4 rows of stitching?

    I'm doing your maternity pants first, except I'm doing it on a skirt. I hope it comes out well, it will be my first project. Thank you for your site. I will be browsing the rest of it :)

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I went up and down the fabric four times so there are four rows of shirring.

      Hooray for a new sewing machine and for learning a new skill! That's so fun!

      Let us know how your sewing projects turn out! Are you having a baby? I'm assuming, since you're making a maternity skirt and shirt... Congratulations!

      Thanks so much for stopping by! :)

      Delete

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