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how to make a Cinderella top from a basic tank top

Easy Cinderella Costume Shirt Tutorial

Supplies 

  • 1/4 yard of sheer pale blue fabric
  • 1/4 inch elastic enough to go around both biceps
  • light blue tank top
  • poofy sleeve pattern piece or you can just freehand one like I did

Instructions

  • To make your own Cinderella top first start by cutting out your sleeve pieces. Either use a pattern or freehand one. You can see the basic sleeve shape in the picture above. Since it’s poofy it doesn’t have to be exact. If you have an sleeve pattern you can make it poofy just by lengthening the piece so the rounded part is extra long. If you look at my piece above each box on my table is 1 square inch.
  • Next iron under your straight edges twice to make a casing for the elastic and sew making sure to leave enough room to thread your elastic through.
  • Finish the rounded edge of your sleeve by serging or using a zig zag or overcast stitch on your sewing machine.
  • Run a row of basting stitches along the rounded edge of each sleeve piece which you’ll use for gathering.
  • Cut your elastic so that it’s about 1 inch longer than the circumference of your bicep.
  • Thread your elastic through the casing and sew the ends of the sleeve together forming a tube. I decided to make a french seam since the fabric is transparent and I didn’t want the thread from serging to show through. You do this by enclosing the edge of the fabric from your original seam in another seam (like the pictures in the second row above). Here’s a tutorial for sewing a french seam if you don’t quite understand what I mean.
  • Next pull your basting threads to gather and pin to your tank top. I just pin it under the edge. Note that while you sew your tank top will stretch a little so you don’t want to gather so it’s totally flush.
  • Finally if you can adjust the pressure on your presser foot on your sewing machine set it on the lightest pressure that will minimize the stretching while you sew the sleeve in.
  • Sew your sleeve in with a zig save stitch. I recommend starting from the arm pit so that if it stretches and you have a little bump of fabric it’s no big deal since it’s hidden under your arm.
  • Wear with princess pride!
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