Ruffled Cardigan

Convert an old long sleeved shirt into this sweet Ruffled Cardigan from Fiskars.  This is a great way to upcycle a shirt that no longer fits, or to update your wardrobe for pennies on the dollar.  This is an easy project for any level of sewist.  The ruffle on the cardigan is easy to do and with a sewing machine, you can easily have a fun wardrobe staple that no one will believe you made yourself!

Materials:

• One yard of fabric
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Plain t-shirt
• Cutting Mat (18" x 24")
• Rotary Cutter

Instructions:

1. Put on shirt and figure out how you want your lines to be. Tip: You can draw a physical line on one half of shirt with a disappearing fabric marker.
    
2. Fold shirt in half matching up seams as shown. Be absolutely sure that no extra fabric is tucked in the fold that could accidentally be cut. Being sure the shirt is folded exactly in half, cut along drawn line with rotary cutter on cutting mat (or free-hand it like I did).
   
   
    
3. Cut long strips of jersey fabric (or use another t-shirt to recycle) at desired width (mine are 1.5 inches) and sew long basting strip down center with no backstitching. I did this by hand because my sewing machine is just horrible.
   
   
    
4. Evenly gather fabric along thread to ruffle.
   
   
    
5. Fold cut edge from t-shirt forward and pin ruffles on top. This was my cheating way to quickly cover the cut edge in case the cardigan flops open.
    
6. Machine sew ruffle along new opening, remove pins, and enjoy!