Maternity Refashion from Happy Together!

Today I have a very special, very talented, and very pregnant guest blogger for a fun maternity refashion. I thought starting kids' week with a maternity refashion was appropriate:-) Make sure you take a peak at her Etsy Shop, she has a lot of fun patterns and gorgeous accessories! Here is Jessica, from Happy Together.

Hi everyone! This is Jessica from Happy Together. I'm a little bit pregnant (as you can see below ;), so I'm sharing a thrifty maternity refashion. Of course, you don't have to be pregnant to make and wear this though.

I had this shirt in mind for a while, so when Alida told me about her refashionista event, I knew what to do.

I still love ruffles very much and was very happy with how this turned out. Let's get to sewing:

What you will need:
-A thrifted dress shirt (if making this and pregnant, make sure it is big enough to go around your belly. Check out the men's shirts too for larger sizes.)
-Coordinating fabric for the ruffle (You could repurpose an old sheet, find some fabric at the thrift store, search through your stash at home, etc. I choose white because I had some extra white fabric at home I could use for the ruffle.)

1. Take your shirt,

and cut off the collar and sleeves.

If you cut really close on the collar, it will look like it was made that way. No fraying edges at all.

If you don't have a serger, I suggest cutting really close to the seam on the arm holes as well. But, leave the seam allowance part there and it will look like the edge was serged. I ended up cutting all of this off and doing a rolled hem with my serger around the armholes.

2. To make mine have a better fit, I shirred three rows on the front right below the chest line. This helps bring it in. If your shirt is a lot bigger, you might want to shirr the back in as well. You could even create a drawstring case or sew in elastic as other options.

3. Prepare a fabric piece for the ruffle. Make sure it is about double the length from one bottom of the front to around the neck and to the other bottom (where the ruffle will go). Choose the width you like. I had to sew two pieces together to create a strip long enough. I then also did a rolled hem on the edges so it wouldn't unravel. But, I also think raw edges are beautiful and fun too! And of course you could always fold over the edges twice and sew in place to have no raw edges.

4. Next, sew a long stitch (baste) down the middle of the fabric strip {see above picture}. Make sure not to back stitch as you will be gathering next.

5. Now pull on the thread that came from the bobbin (the bottom thread) until it is all ruffled. Even the ruffle out to the length needed to go around the shirt. If you desire, finish the raw edges on the short ends at this time as well. Again, I just did a rolled hem over them, but you could leave them raw or fold them under.

6. Pin the ruffle in place on the shirt. I placed it right on the edge of the front flaps so I wouldn't sew over any buttons, but it would still cover up that area when the shirt was buttoned.

7. Sew in place and you are all done!

Thanks for having me Alida!!!! Refashioning is the best!

Wow Jessica! I wish I had seen this when I was preggers! Oh well, I love buttoned up shirts for nursing as well, maybe one of these is in my future :-)

I hope y'all are enjoying Refashionista-ing! Don't forget to post your refashion projects on my linky party Friday, there will be a giveaway with some great prizes! If you don't have a blog and would like to enter you can put a before and after photo on the Flickr Page. One entry per project.