Me, wearing my new ruffled tank top with Hillary and Steph

When I’m outside of the office, my summer wardrobe – particularly during heat spells like we’ve been having this summer – is pretty standard.  I almost always wear shorts and a “Perfect Fit” JCrew tank top, which I stock up on every time I’m at the outlet.  Their shirts are absolutely the most comfortable and you can pretty much always score the tanks at the outlet for under $10.  When I went this spring, I got a few for $7.99 each.  A total bargain!  The only downside is that, after a while, my outfits tend to all look the same – just in a different color.

Inspired by all of the ruffles we’re seeing this spring/summer, I decided to add a little ruffle onto one of my new tanks.  The result is a tank that’s cute enough to wear with a skirt – and that was way cheaper than buying a new shirt. Here’s what you’ll need and what I did:

What you’ll need:

1. 1 tank top
2. A spool of ribbon of your choice.  I chose an iridescent ribbon, to add some sparkle to my grey tank
3. A needle and thread.

What to do:

• Decide where you want your ribbon – I chose to place it just at the top of one shoulder.
• Cut some pieces of ribbon – about 3 inches long each

• Start with your bottom-most ribbon.
• Fold it in half and place 3-4 stitches across the top to hold it in place.

• Repeat with a ribbon or next to that ribbon, depending on how many across you want.

To move onto the next row:

• Fold another ribbon in half
• Stitch it into the shirt about ½ inch above the first ribbon, so that the end covers the stitches of the shirt.
• Repeat until you are at your last ribbon.
• For the last ribbon, form an oval with your ribbon; stitch the back of the ribbon into the shirt.  Place it so that this ribbon hides the last of the top stitch, but that its stitch is also hidden by the front of the oval.

• Stitch it on and where your new tank.  As a side note, it’s probably best to hand wash these.  I put mine in the washer and dryer, and it was ok, but I fear that once or twice more may be too strong for the ribbon.  If I learn differently, I will let you know!

For more projects like this, you may want to check out previous posts where we show you how to embellish a tank top using buttons, and add ribbon to a plain T-shirt to give it a girly twist.

A close up of the finished tank