A Tale of Three Tops: Slubby Ruffle Tank Tutorial

I told you on Sunday about how I made three tops for WAY less than what Banana Republic would have asked for. Remember the tops?

Yesterday I showed you how I made the Raw Ribbons Top. Today we’ll look at how I made the Slubby Ruffle Tank. First, let’s look at the inspiration once more.

I like how the ruffles cross the top in a random way, not just straight across. If you look closely, you’ll see that there are triangle shaped gaps with just the shirt showing, no ruffle. I used the same pattern as for the shirt the day before, I just cut it more narrow so this top would be more form fitting.

Then I cut some long strips in different widths: 3”, 2”, 1”.

I used my AMAZING ruffle foot and ruffled the strips directly on to the front piece of fabric. If you don’t have a ruffle foot, you can just gather your strips and then pin onto the fabric. I alternated the angle of the strips. I started by doing a tighter ruffle (set to the every 6 stitch setting on the ruffle foot), and the went back and filled in some of the gaps with looser ruffled strips (set to the every 12 stitch setting).

Then, I serged the front and back pieces together to finish off the shirt. I didn’t do any fancy finish work on the sleeves or hem, just serged with black thread. I liked the raw finish couple with the raw edge on all the ruffles.

And the shirt was done!

For the cardigan to go with this top, I took an old pink sweater that had shrunk up too much in the length.

I just cut up the middle of the front and serged the edges. I like how the knit kind of ruffled. It coordinates well with the top.

Since this top is form fitting, I don’t feel the need to have a belt around the cardigan. I think I love this top even more than the one before! Be sure and stop by tomorrow for the tutorial for the third top in the Tale of Three Tops!