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How to Make Ultimate Ruffled Recycled T-shirts

If you have a T-shirt that is too boring, or maybe it has a small stain or hole in it, you don't have to toss it away. Upcycle it instead by using other T-shirts to embellish it with ruffles. You can make a recycled ruffle T-shirt with only basic sewing skills. The best part is you don't have to do a lot of hemming because the jersey knit fabric from the T-shirts will not fray.

Things You'll Need

T-shirts
Scissors
Sewing machine or hand-sewing needle
Thread
Straight pins

Instructions

- 1
  Cut up an old T-shirt (or several) into strips that are 3 inches wide and as long as the T-shirt fabric will allow you to make them.
- 2
  Sew a basting stitch down the center of each ruffle; you can do this by setting your sewing machine to the longest straight stitch possible or use a hand-sewing needle and thread to sew long, running stitches down the center of each ruffle.
- 3
  Pull on the threads from the basting stitches to gather the fabric of the strips and make it ruffle. Tie a knot in the end of the threads to keep the ruffle in place.
- 4
  Lay the T-shirt you want to embellish on a table top. Arrange the ruffles on the front of the shirt; make them in vertical rows down the center of the shirt, place them horizontally across the shirt or simply spiral them in a random pattern.
- 5
  Pin the ruffles in place on the shirt front when you are satisfied with their placement.
- 6
  Sew the ruffles onto the T-shirt. Use a sewing machine zigzag stitch or sew by hand with back stitching. Keep your stitching small and go over the center of the ruffles so the stitching will be less noticeable.

Sewing