ruffled tank

I love trips.  adore them really.  I just love being on vacation.  however, I've discovered something about myself and trips: I always want new clothes to pack for vacations, always, without fail.  

the husband and I went on a little mini vacation last week.  we met up with the california family in laughlin, nevada.  the week was filled with days in the sun, good food, and lots of entertainment.  preparing for the trip I knew I wanted something new to pack.  just something simple... like a new pair of shoes, or a new top, or a new skirt... anything really.  just so I could pack something that was different from my every day.  so I was perusing websites when I came across this ADORABLE tank: 

tank

this spurred a thought... I could make something like that!  just a week before I had bought some jersey knit for my colorblock dress... I still had a quarter yard left.  and I have two tank tops I never wear because, well honestly, they are just too plain.  ooh!  I was inspired!!

inspired is the correct term because my tank is somewhat different, but I do love how it turned out.

step one: choose tank to add embellishment to

I chose the purple tank because I liked how the accent fabric went with it.

step two:  make ruffle for front of tank.  I made a ruffle and then pinned it on to the tank where I thought was appropriate.  this is fairly simple.  it took me a few tries to get the ruffle the correct amount of "ruffled" and pinned just right, but once I did it was easy peasy!

step 3: sew down ruffle.  I top stitched the ruffle down.  where the ruffle folds over I left that part unsewn... it was really only about an inch of fabric anyways and the ruffle continues so nicely when it's not being pulled at. remove basting stitches from ruffle.  {I also added a "trim" piece to the collar to cover my raw edge of the ruffle.  I honestly liked the look of the raw ruffle, but I was not careful with my sewing so mine wasn't so pretty}

step 4: add flowers.  I don't have pictures of the process of this, or a tutorial for it.  I made rolled rosettes... there are tons of tutorials for them online... I could have done layered flowers, or made a rosette in a multitude of ways, but I've really been liking the look of rolled rosettes lately, so I just looked up a tutorial and away I went.

two flowers on the shoulder

and one to finish off the ruffle on the bottom

step 5: wear! {I failed at getting pictures of me wearing my new top... I tried to take some today before posting, but they were blurry.  so next time I wear it I will take some pics}

... disregard the wrinkles please ...

the tank turned out quite nice.  I really like the color of purple and the way that the steel/blue color becomes more violet against the purple.  it's a great comfy tank that has a little extra added oomph.  a perfect, no cost addition to my summer wardrobe.