Carlie’s Dolman Gets All Ruffled Up

A few weeks back, someone in the EYMM Facebook group talked about making a shirt from ruffle fabric and got my mind turning. I happened to have a yard of bright pink ruffle fabric that my daughter had found in the remnants bin and talked me into buying. We hadn’t picked a pattern to use it on yet, and I thought it called for simple lines, so we decided to make ruffled up Carlie’s Dolman Top. The combination is perfection!

Ever had one of those projects that sounds like a fabulous idea until you get about halfway through and wonder what you were thinking? This ruffley Carlie’s Dolman Top was like that for me. The extra care that this fabric required while sewing made the project take twice as long, and I’m not a very patient sewist, so I’m lucky that it is a quick pattern to begin with! Haha!

When working with ruffle fabric, it’s important to make sure the ruffles are all laying the correct direction when cutting so the ruffle ends are all at the right angle. You also have to be careful that they are all the same direction when sewing the seams or each row won’t end up laying right.

I chose to hem the neckline before sewing the shoulders so it would be a bit easier to fold over. Also, I hemmed the sleeves before sewing the side seams, starting at the shoulder seam and sewing down each side of the sleeve hem to make sure the ruffles laid right.

In the end, it was totally worth all the extra care I had to take and my daughter is thrilled with her new dolman top! The finished product is stunning!

Happy Sewing!!  ~  Joelle