Girl's Ruffled Top & Skirt

I am so excited to share this week's creation!  :)

Within my ample stash of miscellaneous fabric was a pair of vintage, never-used white, ruffled curtain panels that were in fact still in their original packaging.  I had acquired them years ago, while cleaning my husband's uncle's apartment after his unfortunate passing.  A few years ago, I used one of the panels as backing for a wall hanging quilt.  The other was just waiting to be re-purposed.  Luck would have it that I should happen upon those ruffles again and know the exact purpose they would fulfill!

Halter Top Front

I cut through the two thicknesses of fabric (the top ruffle and main curtain), so the shirt would be double-layered.  To make the straight top edge look less like a curtain rod sleeve, I sewed three evenly-spaced rows of stitches. Then, I made and attached two straps to tie around the back of the neck and hemmed each layer separately. 

Halter Top Back

Since I made the mistake of cutting straight edges on the ruffled top of the curtain (instead of at an outward angle), I realized I needed to piece a wedge of fabric in the back.  I did this and used elastic along the top edge as to give the shirt some flexibility when putting it on. I was so relieved to find this "mistake" actually worked out better than expected.  So let's not call it a mistake... but a design element instead.  ;) 

Tiered Ruffled Skirt

This was the easiest piece.  I cut through both thicknesses along the top of the curtain (the main curtain and the ruffled top), used the curtain rod sleeve as a convenient space to insert the elastic waist band, sewed on another shorter ruffle above the longer ruffle (to create a tiered look), connected both ends to make a skirt and hemmed it up.

Because my daughter is a bit of a messy child--as artistic types usually are--I'm a tad concerned that this outfit's pristine, crisp whiteness won't last for long.  I'm contemplating dying it another color but have no experience with cloth dying. I'm also hesitant to change its color because the white looks so pretty and bright right now.  I think I might just let her wear it for a bit, see how the stains wash out and go from there.  Only time will tell, I suppose!

 

Here is my girl wearing her new, re-purposed ruffled curtain outfit.  The beauty of her age (or maybe just her personality) is that she doesn't bawk at recycled or re-purposed items. She doesn't care where her pretty new outfit came from.  All she sees is something beautiful that Mommy lovingly made just for her. She couldn't be more pleased, and that makes me happy.