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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

JCrew Asymmetrical Ruffle tee knock off and tutorial!

First of all, thank you all so much for your comments and thoughts on my last JCrew knock off!!  I'm glad you like the ruffle tank, and I hope you all can try it at home!

As I promised, here's another embellished tee I copied at home:
It's there in the name: the Asymmetrical Ruffle tee!!  How can you screw up if it's supposed to be asymmetrical?  This was a really fun one to copy.
Super slouchy model.  Ick.  I love JCrew but their models are too thin (not that that's rare or anything).
There's the back, and here it is in another color so you can see the ruffles better:
Looks pretty easy to copy!
I started with this (technically pajama) tee from Target.  It was $3.24 on clearance.
It's ring-spun just like the JCrew one, so it was perfect!  Had the v-neck and everything.  You could use any tee but a tight-ribbed, snugly fitting one wouldn't be best.
So here's the tutorial:
  • Cut off the sleeves.
  • Hem the (now short) sleeves.
  • Back to the cutting board: Cut open the sleeves and chop off the serged seam allowance.  Also cut off the cuff hem.
  • Even up the sleeve pieces so you have two big rectangles instead of two top-chopped-off triangles.
  • Using my handy see-through ruler, I cut one of the sleeves into evenly sized 1.5" wide strips.  These will become the ruffles that go all around the neck.
  • Next, cut more (larger, 2") strips out of the other sleeve piece.  These will be the wider ruffles that go on one side of the neck.
  • Sew all the 1.5" ruffles together and sew all the 2" ruffles together.  Press seams open.
  • Sew along one side of both strip pieces, large stitches and tight tension.
  • Pull on the top thread and gather the strips.
  • Pin the 1.5" wide ruffle (pointing up) around the neck of the tee.  Sew it down.  Sew through the neck band--extra strength, anchors it down, covers the original neckline.
  • Pin the 2" ruffle down, pointing down, on the right side of the neckline wrapping around the back.  See the original for an example.  Sew it down.
  • Only sew to a point just above the V.  Cut the ruffle off at this point.
  • Pin the other half of the 2" ruffle down on top of the first part.  Sew.
  • You'll notice on the JCrew version that the top wide ruffle is tapered.  Trim the top ruffle at an angle.

That's it!

27 comments

  1. VERY cute. I love your knock-offs! great job :)

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  2. Oh, wow! This looks great!!

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  3. How cute is that! Embellished Ts are all the fashion statement for spring. Thank you for such a good tutorial. I'm anxious to see what you knock of next!

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  4. Great tutorial! I love how easy it is to make beautiful things!

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  5. Love this!! So much!

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  6. Your t-shirt is definitely the most beautiful!! Love the ruffle trend!

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  7. SO good. I am going to buy some cheap t-shirts during my lunch break today. I also need to learn how to sew knits on my sewing machine. Lots to do lots to do... Thanks for such great ideas!

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  8. Oooh cute! Now on the hunt for a t-shirt to cut up :D

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  9. very cute! i think i'm going to try this on some of my maternity t-shirts just to jazz them up a bit. thanks for the tutorial!

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  10. I think this is my favorite ruffle shirt tutorial! Thanks!

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  11. I think this is my favorite ruffle shirt tutorial! Thanks!

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  12. Ooh, this is so pretty! I'm going to have to make one but as a maternity top...darn J.Crew and their non-maternity section!!!! Thanks!!!
    -Mags

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  13. Well done! I'm enjoying your knock-offs so much!

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  14. It's beautiful! I plan on making one of these soon. I love the ruffles! :)

    Thanks for the great tutorial. Have a wonderful weekend!

    ~Kim

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  15. This is quite adorable, I have to say!

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  16. Suzannah, I love your blog! I have been so inspired by your J.Crew knock-off posts, I tried one and had to blog about it too! I'd love for you to check it out!
    www.think--pink.com
    Keep up the great posts!
    -Becca

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  17. um ok this is genius! thanks so much for the great tutorial, i just love love your blog!!

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  18. Love this! Just made a shirt for my daughter and it turned out so cute.

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  19. How pretty! A great new shirt for spring!

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  20. Thank you for sharing your awesome project at Thursday’s Treasures last week! Come share your crafty projects in this week’s Thursday’s Treasures too!
    http://treasuresfortots.blogspot.com/2010/02/thursdays-treasures-week-11.html

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  21. this is fabulous - do you think someone very new to sewing could pull it off?

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  22. Hi princesspackages,
    Yes, I'm sure you could figure it out, using the pictures as a guide!
    If you want, it might be a good idea to start with a simpler tutorial--try this one:
    http://adventuresindressmaking.blogspot.com/2010/02/jcrews-grand-ruffle-tank-knock-off.html
    Or this one:
    http://kojodesigns.blogspot.com/2010/01/guest-tutorial.html
    I'm sure you can do it!
    If you do, I'd love to see pics!

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  23. I love this! I actually think yours turned out better than the J.Crew one...just sayin'

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  24. Love it! One hour later and I have my very own J.Crew-esque t-shirt! Thanks.

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