Ruffled Toddler Halter Top

Now that the weather is starting to get nice I've been wanting to start making some cute clothing for Sophia. I started by search different books and blogs for inspiration and came across Abbie at The Green Wife. She has an awesome blog and tutorials. I'm now one of her many fans and followers!  Abbie shared her toddler halter top tutorial and I just had to make one.

She loves it and so do I!

So while laying in bed last night I started to think about how I could take the same idea and change it up. I wanted to making one with ruffles all down the front. Here is what I came up with this morning.

With permission from Abbie I will be using her tutorial with a few additions.

When you cut your fabric, you’ll want it folded with the straight side of the pattern piece pinned along the fabric fold.

Across the neckline is 6 ″

Across the bustline is 12"

Across the bottom is 15″
From top to bottom: 13″.

Note: the five strips for the ruffles have not been cut yet in photo.

Grab your back halter fabric (the plain rectangle) and fold down one of the long edges 1/4″. Press. Fold again approximately 1″ and press. Then sew along your fold to create your elastic casing. These steps will look something like this:

 Next, cut a piece of elastic that will fit your child. You can measure across her back from armpit to armpit to get an idea. Ours was approximately 9". Sophia is on the small side for 3 1/2 :)

Anchor one end of your elastic with a straight pin at one end of your casing. Attach a safety pin to the other end of your elastic and use the pin to feed the elastic through the casing.

I forgot to take a photo of this but here is Abbie's so you can get the general idea.

Make sure to secure both ends of the elastic by stitching vertically 1/4" from the edge of the fabric.

 

Now on to the front and ruffles. With each of the five pieces you want to fold and sew the hemline before creating the ruffle. Like this:

 

I stitched 1/4 " to the edge

To create the ruffles I found a little trick that work well every time without changing sewing feet. I change my machine settings to the highest tension and longest stitch.

I do a strait stitch the whole length 1/4" away from the edge of the fabric like so:

You should end up with 5 that look like this.

Space and pin each ruffle in place. My placement was 2" apart. Working your way from the to to bottom, use a zigzag stitch to secure each ruffle panel. You will trim the extra length in the sides off after you sew them to the front. Make sure to leave about 1/2" over hang.

Make sure to fold back and away each of the ruffles, you don't want what happened to me.

Again every sewers best friend!

Moving on. We are half way there! Bias tape, I made mine out of the same fabric. It's really simple and there are a few different ways you can make it. Abbie has a great video tutorial. Check it out!

You will need 1- 6" piece (neckline) and 1-36"piece (straps)

Sandwich the top (neckline) edge of the front halter piece within a 6″ length of bias tape ( mine 7"). Stitch along the open edge of the bias tape, being sure to catch the underneath layer in your seam.

You’ll use the same basic idea to attach the straps. Start at the bottom of each underarm curve and attach your bias tape. Sew down the entire length of the bias tape to close it and form the strap pieces.

Grab your back panel and Pin your front and back together (right sides facing) at the side seams and sew 1/2″ seams.

Do a final hemline on the bottom of the halter and your DONE!

Come check it out on: