This is such a cool idea! I wonder if it would work with all of the scrapbooking paper I have? I have a lot because my mom thinks "I will never scrapbook, I like sewing" means "buy me more paper please"

It was actually quite easy!  I will put up a picture tutorial when I have a free moment, but I can describe it as best I can here.

I unstitched the neckband of the shirt (to reuse later).  Then I folded the shirt so the front was folded in half, I measure how much I wanted to take out of the front (this time was about 4inches on the fold line, 8 inches in total).  I used the cut fabric as a guidline, and placed it on the fold of the grey fabric.  I measure 5 inches (4in, plus 1 inch for seam allowance).  From the bottom of the original material I measured 9 extra inches onto the grey fabric (so I could gather the shirt).  I gathered the grey material by hand, and then attached it to the blue shirt.  Once everything was sewn back together I put the neckband back on.

The great part about this shirt was you don't have to take much apart if you don't want to.  Removing the neckband just gave me something else to add back on to the shirt, but you can make your own neckband or just leave it out altogether.

It's been a while since I posted, mostly because I have had it with my sewing machine, and ended  up getting a new one.  Now I am in love, and want to sew as much as I can!

*updated- I posted the tutorial on my blog http://seweffingbored.blogspot.com/2012/07/ruchey-goodness-tutorial.html



I was inspired by this shirt from Rickis http://www.rickis.com/by-category/sale/colour-block-top/prod5101HT169YS5649RM.html.  Since I don't live in Canada at the moment, I figured I would do it myself.

I started with a navy blue shirt (sorry no before picture of the blue shirt, but I have it in black, so this is what it looked like.


I cut the front in half, found a scrap piece of grey fabric and used that.


I want to make this shirt again, next time I am going to make some changes, I am going to add more length to the middle piece of fabric to get more of a ruched look.  I am also going to  cut less fabric from the middle, or not use a light colour because I feel like it draws the eyes a little too wide.
thanks for looking!

So cute, both the outfit and the bebe.

I think it also takes a keen eye while thrift store shopping, If I had saw the same dress I would have just kept walking past it.
It looks a bajillion times better now!

I heard about that on the news the other day and couldn't believe it! The fascinators are awesome!

Love the dress, especially the back of the shirt! I wouldn't have thought to dye a white shirt in tea, but it makes sense considering I spill tea on my white tank tops everyday.

I love it! So often I want to make a quilt nut feel that the patterns have to match or "go together" that I get a mental block.  The type of quilt is just the thing I should try!

This is awesome! It's something I'm planning in doing with some of my kids tshirts that I couldn't part with.

I saw the foofa thumbnail and had to click on it!  I wish I could crochet, these hats are adorable!