Girly Classic Ringer Tee

I love all things frilly and ruffly for my little girl!  I remember when I was probably 10 and looking at my baby pictures of me in frilly and ruffly dresses and being kind of disappointed that my mom made me wear those dresses - I was such a tom boy at 10 years old!!!

I'm really hoping Eva Mae doesn't grow into too much of a mini-me!!!  I want her to love all things girly for a little while at least!

I say all of that because I'm turning the Classic Ringer Tee into a girly t-shirt!!!!  Woo hoo!!!
My links to the pattern are affiliate links but all my opinions are 100% my own!!!

I made my first girl-i-fied ringer tee test for the Harem Pants outfit!  Check it out here!

 I noticed that the shoulders were a little low for a girly t-shirt and I wanted to do something special at the neck line.  I am SO EXCITED to show you a cool trick on how to make a pretty scallop neck edge later on in the tutorial!  If you want, just scroll down to where the scallop edge instructions start.

First, you'll need the Classic Ringer Tee pattern - Buy it HERE

Several of the steps in the tutorial aren't pictured because Amy goes over how to construct in her PDF pattern and tutorial!

To start, I traced the original pattern front on my folded fabric but I set the edge of the pattern 1.5" away from the fold.



Next, I free handed how I wanted to shorten the length of the shoulder and get rid of some of the bulk on the sides that would be created from increasing the width of the neck line.

For the sleeves I did the same thing - I cut 1.5" away from the fold.  I didn't change anything else because I'm hemming the sleeve with elastic thread to give more "poof!"  (Or is it "pouf?")

The back pattern piece was cut as is but I did bring the shoulders in about an inch to match my front shoulders.

Now for the FUN PART!!!!!  I feel like Christopher Columbus right now discovering a new technique!  I'm sure it's an old trick out in sewing land but as a self-taught "sewist" I am pretty proud of myself for figuring this out!  Playing around with your machine has it's benefits!!!

Ok, see this pretty scallop at the neck edge binding?  I made it all by machine!!!  The stitch is called "Overlock Stretch" and I'm sure it's not meant to be done on the folded edge of a binding, but no one can argue with the cuteness factor of the final product!!!

Here's what my machine looked like when I created the scallop binding:


(the top notch on the bottom dial shows you what the overlock stitch looks like - kind of like a sideways mountain peak)

Stitch length is set at 2.5 and width is set at 3.5
 

My tension is 5.5

Work on some scrap before putting your neck binding strip on the machine!  This is how I found the settings that worked best for me!  Here's a pic of some of my test stitches
 

Once I found the right combo of width/length/etc I made sure the fabric was 1/8" between  the needle in the left position and the edge of the fabric.  When the needle jumped to the right it would pull the thread against the fabric fold creating a scallop edge! You'll want to go fairly slow so the knit doesn't pull and go off course.  My measurements for the neck binding were 1.5" x 12" but I actually cut it about 4"x12" and folded over.  That way I had some bulk on the side to help guide with my hands.

Here it is!!

(Before sewing this on my front and back I will trim it down to 3/4" which would be the original 1.5"x12" called for in the pattern)

Let me know if any of the instructions aren't clear on how to make this adorable scallop trim!!!  I know that my friend Karen at One Girl Circus is going to show how she's using this technique on the Skater Dress hem!  Check out her blog on Monday for that post!  To attach the binding to the neck you can see picture instructions in the Classic Ringer Tee PDF!  I'm serious, this is a great pattern and one that I'll be using a LOT as my kids grow!

OK, now back to our t-shirt construction!
You're going to sew a basting stitch on the front neck curve.   Gather in the middle of the front and match up the shoulder widths from your back pattern piece.


Find your pattern PDF tutorial and follow instructions for sewing the shoulders!  Sew your front and back pieces and add your groooooooovy scalloped neck binding!

Before you start on your sleeve construction do the same thing you did to gather the front.  Sew a long basting stitch and gather at the center point of the sleeve.  Pin the sleeve to the front and back of your shirt and sew just like in the tutorial (Step 6 on the PDF tutorial)

 

Follow step 7 in the PDF tutorial and sew up the side seams!

Instead of finishing my short sleeves like in the tutorial I technically "shirred" the hem by using elastic thread in my bobbin!  There is no need to be intimidated about this trick!  Shirring is so easy if you've never done it before!  Check out my pinterest board with links to help you learn!

I did the same thing to the bottom hem - it just gives it a little extra ruffle!  (That hopefully my daughter won't look back and roll her eyes at when she's 10!)

Thank you so much for learning along with me!  I would love to see your garments using either the t-shirt tutorial or the scalloped edge trick!  Send me an e-mail or link so I can check out your projects! And if you would like to follow along with my other sewing adventures, check me out on Bloglovin' or Facebook!!!