Are you sewing a long with me and the rest of the M4M fb group?? I hope so 🙂 Today we are assembling our pattern pieces, choosing our fabric, cutting out the pattern pieces and using the measurement chart to cut our neckband and sleeve ruffles.

Here is a tutorial on how to assemble the ‘no trim’ pattern pages if you have never done it before on my  YouTube channel. You will quickly fall in love! I am updating all my older princess patterns to be no-trim, it’s just taking me longer than I would like to admit.

If you are going to embroider or applique your shirt I suggest doing this BEFORE cutting out! I always cut a big square- make sure you pattern piece will fit with a few inches extra. After I applique I will press the piece in half and then cut out. This ensures that the applique is perfectly centered and placed. Also if your machine eats your fabric……. we’ve all been there…. you won’t have to throw out an entire shirt! I bought the embroidery from Just Sew Pretty.

Now cut out the front, back and sleeves pieces. From the measurement chart cut the ruffles and neckband. Remember if you want to leave your ruffle hem raw and not hem them, subtract the 1/2″ seam allowance from the length before cutting. You can also choose to add MORE ruffles! Just cut 2 or 4 extra ruffle pieces. I like to make them 1 inch shorter each ruffle I add. Example a size 5 ruffle is 4.5″. I would cut the first ruffle per pattern, the first extra ruffle I would cut 3.5″ and if I wanted a third 2.5″. For the ‘Je Taime’ shirt I added a lace ruffle layer, one extra fabric ruffle and on top a shorter lace ruffle layer. SUPER ruffley and fun. The monster high shirt I upcycled and added 1 extra ruffle. Depending on your neckband fabric you may need to add 1/4″ to a 1/2″. WHY? Well ALL knit fabrics are different, you need to be able to gauge the amount of stretch your knit has to get the perfect neckband. It is something that comes with experience and the more you work with knits the easier this will be. If you are new make sure you are using a ribbing or cotton lycra, something with great recovery (meaning it has a lot of stretch, but bounces back into shape quickly).

Don’t forget to post your photo of your pieces to fb album for a chance to win a M4M pattern of your choice. Plus share on instagram with the tags #m4msewalong #madeformermaids #roserufflepattern . Here are a few tester photos of the Rose Ruffle to give you some inspiration.