How to Make a Ruffled Peasant Top

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Here is a tutorial for this little shirt:
I strongly recommend buying a peasant top pattern. It's well worth the money as you can use it endlessly, lengthening it into a dress, tapering the sides, etc. and it is not terribly fitted so you can easily make it bigger or smaller. I've nearly worn out a Simplicity pattern For Dummies. My fellow Albertan Indietutes has a free pattern here as well as instructions which are likely similar to what I'm going to say below, but she's far more of a genius at constructing pattern pieces.

You will cut two sleeve pieces that look like this:

And a front and a back that each look like this:

Match up the curved seams and sew each sleeve in place to the front and the back with right sides together.

Here's the shirt so far:

With right sides together again, sew down the arm and body.

Either serge or zigzag the raw edges of both sleeves and the neckline, then clip the seam of the neckline so it will turn easily.

Turn the sleeves under and make a casing for an elastic. Do the same with the neckline. Don't panic that your neckline is about three times as big as your child's head. Cut a piece of elastic (about 15 inches for a size 4T) for the neck and insert it into the casing. You just made a peasant top!

For the ruffles, cut three or more strips in graduated lengths. If you have a serger, do a rolled hem on all edges. If you don't have a serger, you could use frayed edges.

Gather each strip to ruffle it.

Position the strips where you want them to lay then either pin them in place or mark with a ruler and pencil. Sew the strips on, leaving a flat spot at the bottom for a button.

Agonize over which buttons are your favorites...

Hmmm, I tried this combination but decided to look around for larger ones.

One last addition to this shirt is a contrasting hem. This was an after-thought when I realized my shirt was shorter than I wanted it to be.

This shirt was made with Ikea's Cecilia fabric ($2.99 a metre!). The shirt in my first photo was refashioned out of a man's size Large dress shirt with lots of fabric left over. If using a man's shirt, cut your sleeves from one of the shirt's sleeves. Lay your front and back pattern pieces over the side fold of the bodice of the men's shirt, avoiding the breast pocket.