HACK || Ruffle to the Max! || by Sarah Jolley

April 27, 2020 2 Comments

Today my dear friend Sarah from In Complete Stitches is joining us for a guest blog on her impressive, gorgeous hack of our free Max Tee! Sarah has been one of my most trusted pattern testers from the get-go and she never ceases to amaze me with her craftsmanship, eye for detail and aesthetic! Her Max tee hack is nothing short of divine and I'm so excited and thankful that she was willing to share her process on how to create this beautiful hack in this elaborate blogpost! 

 

Sarah shares her amazing makes with the world on her blog In Complete Stitches, but she's also gearing up to releasing her first PDF Bag and Appliqué patterns soon! And let me tell you, it's going to GOOD! So if you're looking for more inspiration òr future In Completes Stitches testing opportunities, head over to Sarah's instagram!

  

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 Ruffle to the MAX!

I’ve been stretching my sewing skills a LOT this year and love how a good set of instructions can give you the confidence to tackle even tricky looking patterns or techniques. This is where Misusu Patterns excel. Fabulous patterns with great tutorials. The Max Tee by Misusu is a free pattern with their signature modern style and an unusual square bib. It gives the chance to combine woven with knit fabric and play with texture and colour. About 18 months ago I started playing with embroidery and used this woven bib to enjoy trying to some simple stitches. I really enjoyed taking the modern pattern and adding a little texture!

I’m not sure what sparked this latest twist on the Max Tee, curving the square bib and adding a ruffle, but it might be explained by having recently seen “Little Women”. I bet you never thought a Misusu make would make a mid-19th Century costume?! I’ve also been doing little more embroidery of late, still simple stitches but with a little more confidence! I love incorporating it into garments and just couldn’t resist another Max Tee!! I decided to make it into a dress, adding a gather to the back seam, but this tutorial will focus on how to go about curving the bib and adding the ruffle. I must at this point thank Mijke (AKA “Sew It
Curly”) for her advice on how best to make the ruffle. She advised that jersey can be used unhemmed as it doesn’t fray, and that a folded ruffle gives a lovely neat edge. I know I wanted to use woven fabric so went with the folded option and it worked a treat!

I hope this tutorial is clear and if you have any queries just get in touch. You’ll find me on Instagram and facebook as @incompletestitches
xx Sarah Jolley.

 

Let’s get started…

Supplies!!

• Max Tee Pattern!! You can download it for free here by using the code from the Misusu Patterns Sew & Tell Facebook group. You’ll find a list of all you need within the pattern.
• Fabric: The pattern is designed as a tee, but I decided that the addition of the ruffle might add too much weight so instead I used French terry and sized up. It is a neat fitting pattern and I’m a sucker for growing room so, considering the change in fabric, I sized up 2 sizes!! I used a gorgeous metallic linen from Merchant and Mills for the bib, the ruffle and the gathered lower back part.

1. Trace off all your Max Tee pattern pieces, grading width or length as required.
2. Collect the Bib and Front pattern pieces.

 

Making the curved Bib…

3. Add a curve to the bottom of the Bib pattern piece. You could also make the curve inside the existing squared bib shape, resulting in a shorter bib. As I was making this into a dress I want to keep the bib proportions longer.
4. Starting from the bottom corners of the Bib draw a line gentle curving in towards the centre.
5. Keep the end of the curve back 1cm from the centre line of the Bib, overall about 2cm wide, to make sure the curve overlaps correctly when the Bib is made up. This 2cm dimension is the same for all sizes as the Bib overlaps the same amount for all sizes.
6. I made a size 4-5 (122) Max Tee and the overall length of the adjusted Bib pattern piece worked out as about 6cm longer than the existing pattern piece. This will vary depending on the size you are using.

Adjusting the Front…

7. Collect the adjusted Bib pattern piece and the original Front pattern piece.
8. Lay them both down overlapping the diagonal side seam of the Bib with the Front diagonal seam of the Front. Line up the shoulder seams and overlap the diagonal sides by 2cm (as shown in the diagram). You overlap by 2cm as this accounts for the 1cm seam allowance of each piece - the mid-point along the length between them is the stitch line.
9. Draw a curved line 2cm in from the curved edge of the adjusted Bib giving you the new curved line of the Front pattern piece.
10. Next curve the side seams to meet it about 1cm from the centre line. As mentioned above, keep the end of the curve back 1cm from the centre line of the Bib to make sure the curve overlaps correctly when the Bib is made up. This 1cm dimension is the same for all sizes as the Bib overlaps the same amount for all sizes.

 

11. Using these pattern pieces cut out the adjusted Front (on the fold) and the adjusted Bib (x2). 

Prepare your bib pieces!

12. As per steps 1A-1D of the Max Tee Tutorial prepare your Bib pieces.

Note: I embroidered mine, as that is a mini sub addiction I have going these days. To do this I marked out the pattern pieces on to an oversized piece of fabric and embroidered a floral arrangement making sure to stay out of the seam allowances and away from the future button positions. I added a light flexible interfacing to the entire surface of the Bib piece, mainly to strengthen it for the embroidery. So I did not add an additional strip of interfacing along the centre line as per the original pattern) 

 

Cut out your Ruffle!

13. Overlap your Bib pieces and pin in place. Measure the length of the perimeter Bib stitch line (in 1cm from the raw edge). Make your ruffle twice as long as this dimension. In my case this worked out as about 110cm long.

 

Note: As noted above there are lots of options for the Ruffle. As I was using a relatively light weight linen which is also prone to fraying I decided to use a folded piece for the Ruffle to keep it as neat as possible. If using a jersey/interlock or other knit fabric it shouldn’t fray so you could consider just using it on the flat without finishing the raw edge at all.

 

14. Cut a piece of your chosen Ruffle fabric and cut it 110cm (or whatever double the length of the perimeter of your Bib is) x 10 cm. Mark the centre point of the length of the Ruffle piece.
15. Fold it in half length ways and press.

16. Line up the Ruffle piece against one side of the top edge of the Front Bib. What you need to do here is to make sure that when the sleeves are added that the outside edge of the Ruffle does not catch in the shoulder seam.
17. Move the folded edge of the Ruffle in at least 1cm away from the outer edge of the Front piece. You will next be trimming back the raw edge of the Ruffle to make sure it sits within the available width of the Front and won’t get caught in that shoulder seam.
18. Mark on the Ruffle where it lines up with the inner edge of the Front. 

 

19. Draw a long diagonal line from this mark back to the raw edge of the Ruffle, about 20cm long. 

 

20. Fold the Ruffle in half so that the ends are lined up sitting on top of each other and trim off this diagonal slip from both ends of the Ruffle.

 

Gather your Ruffle!

 21. Sew two lines of basting stitches along the long raw edges of the Ruffle. The first about 0.5cm in from the edge, the second about 1.5cm in from the edge.

Note: When gathering if possible I like to have one line of basting stitches inside the seam allowance, the other outside the seam allowance. I find this helps to keep the gathers neat and even. But if you have delicate fabric that will show the stitch marks when the basting has been removed keep the two lines inside the seam allowance. I knew here that the linen would survive just fine!

 

22. Evenly gather the Ruffle until it is the same length as the perimeter of the Bib.

 

 

Attach your Ruffle!

23. Pin the Ruffle to the right side of the Bib lining up the raw edges. Start by pining both ends in place first and then the centre point of the Ruffle to the bottom centre of the Bib.
24. Because of the weight of all the Ruffles I decided to reinforce the edge of the Front Piece by adding a strip of flexible interfacing about 1.5cm wide to the Bib Seam.

 

25. If you like you could baste the Ruffle to Bib at this point. I however collected my Front Piece and pinned it in place too, right side facing the Ruffle, sandwiching the Ruffle between the Bib and the Front.

 

26. Sew them together using a straight stitch and a 1cm seam allowance.

 

27. Open out the assembled Front and press the seam allowance towards the Bib. Finish the edge of the seam allowance with a serger or a zig zag stitch.

 

28. Top stitch along the Bib about 2-3mm from the edge. This will keep the seam allowance in place and help the ruffle lay nice and flat(ish).

 

Whoop!! All ruffled up!! Now, you can finish your Max Tee follow the rest of the pattern tutorial, but there are a couple of points where you need to be careful. At Step 3E when joining the shoulder seams you need to make sure the top of the ruffle is sitting inline with the seam. Secondly at Steps 5A-5C you need to take care not to catch the ruffle in the shoulder seam.
 

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Wow, thanks a million Sarah! Do you want to see more of Sarah's makes? Check out her instagram account: @incompletestitches or Sarah's blog: In Complete Stitches. Please tag @misusupatterns and @incompletestitches when you make your own ruffled up Max Tee!

Happy sewing!

 

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