Tutorial Tuesday #2 – DIY Ruffle Skirt

No Slip Kitchen Towel from Pincushion Creations

Wardrobe Reveal from Home Delicious

Now for today’s tutorial

Fun (and easy) Ruffle Skirt

I made this for my daughter, but you can most definitely make it for yourself. I’m planning on making myself one soon!!!

You will need to start by getting some measurements.

• You’ll need a waist measurement for the elastic
• double your waist measurement for the lining fabric
• triple your waist measurement for your main fabric
• and a measurement from your waist to your knee (or wherever you want the skirt to hit)

I used the following measurements (for a 9 month old)
Waist – 8 1/2 inches
Lining Fabric (white fabric) – 17 inches
Main Fabric (colored fabric) – 25.5 inches
Length – 8.75 inches

Cut as follows:
Each strip will need to be 6 inches wide, except the top “lining fabric” which will become your waistband. It only needs to be 2.5 inches.
Cut your elastic 1 inch more than needed to allow for seams while sewing

Figure how many ruffles you will need for your desired length. Each ruffle will end up being 2.5 inches and the waistband will be 1.25 inches.

Tutorial:

Iron your “main fabric” in half with right sides facing each other. Then do a straight stitch 1/4 inch in, creating a long tube. Using a safety pin, turn your fabric right side out then iron flat.
Repeat for however many ruffles this will take to get your desired length (mine took 3 ruffles)

1. (Picture Below) Take each tube and once again do a straight stitch as close to the edge, but change your tension on your sewing machine to a 9. This will automatically ruffle your fabric! (Tip – make sure your fabric doesn’t curl back up and double back as you are sewing! I’ve learned from experience.)

2. (Picture Below) pin your, now ruffled, “Main Fabric” to your lining fabric. You may need to adjust the ruffles here and there to get it to the correct length. (Change your tension back to normal, again I learned from experience)) Then do a straight stitch as close to the edge as possible to connect the two.

3. (Picture Below) Open up your fabrics and iron them with the seam pointing toward the lining fabric.

Just on the bottom ruffle, sew over the seam with a zig-zag stitch. This will hold the ruffle down, preventing it from flipping up.

4. (Picture Below) Repeat Steps 1-3 for the next ruffle. But don’t do a zig zag stitch.

5. (Picture Below) with “Wrong Sides” facing up, lay the bottom ruffle on top of the second ruffle. Pin it in place with the first ruffle’s “Lining Fabric” and second “Main Fabric” lining up exactly.

6. (Picture Below) If you were to see the front view, the top ruffle is BARLEY covering the “Lining Fabric”.

7. (Picture Below) Sew the two ruffles together with a zig zag stitch. This will seal the hem in between the fabrics.

Repeat Steps 1-7 for remaining ruffles until you reach your desired length (minus the top ruffle)

8 (Picture Below) When you get to the top ruffle, you will sew it to the 2.5 inch lining, which will become your waistband. Fold the lining in half making a 1.25 inch tube.

9. (Picture Below) Iron the “Lining Fabric” flat.

10. (Picture Below) Attach the rest of your ruffles to the top ruffle, same as before but make sure that the folded waist band makes it into the stitch as well!

11. (Picture Below) Admire your pretty ruffles!! haha

12 (Picture Below) Thread your elastic using a safety pin.  Pull it 1/2 inch out of each end, and pin it into place so that it doesn’t pull back inside  Your fabric should bunch quite a bit.

13. (Picture Below) Fold your skirt in half, right sides facing and pin the two edges together. The tricky part is to make sure that your ruffles are all laying COMPLETELY flat.

Sew with a zig zag stitch (for extra strength) down the seam about 1/4 in.
Cut off excess fabric and elastic.
Turn your skirt right side out and ENJOY!!

14. (Picture Below) Give yourself a pat on the back because you just sewed a Fun (and easy) Ruffle Skirt!!

Now it’s your turn!