Looking for a great stash buster for the Dollar Store Crafts April Stash Busting Challenge? Looking for Lots Of Capitalized Words? I Have Both.
I love this project. It’s an excellent way to use up scraps of fabric that aren’t big enough to make a complete item from by themselves. It’s also a really fun way to showcase bits of those favorite fabrics you are hoarding because you love them too much to use up the whole piece. I know I can’t be the only one who has that particular neurosis.
So anyway…let’s start by making the pattern. For this one, I wanted to make a skirt to match a onesie I appliqued, so I just made the skirt about 1/3 wider than the onesie to allow for gathering. For the larger size pictured in some of the photos, I had measurements (waist & length) and added about 1/3 again to the waist measurment. Choose how much flare you want in your A-line, and don’t forget to add extra length at the top for a casing and at the bottom for hemming. *I-Learned-the-Hard-Way-Tip*: Cut the casing seam allowance out at an angle so when you fold it down, you have enough width to fit the flare of the skirt. If you cut it straight or continue the A-line line the casing will be too short and the skirt will pucker at the top to fit. Not a huge deal since it’s a gathered skirt anyway, but if you plan ahead, you can avoid that.
Cut out two pieces of your base skirt fabric, with straight side on the fold.
Next, choose your ruffle fabrics and cut strips. For this step, you will thank the powers that be for inventing the rotary cutting system. If you don’t have one, save your pennies and buy a mat and a rotary cutter. Oh, and a big ruler. I wouldn’t try this with a standard school-supply ruler. [I didn't have a rotary cutter until about a year ago and I seriously don't know now how I managed so long without one. It's my favorite thing ever, now.]
Cut strips all the same width, varying widths, stepped widths, it doesn’t matter. I try to make strips that are approximately 1.5 times the length of the total skirt width. (So if my skirt has a finished circumference, my ruffle strips are approximately 30 inches long, maybe a bit longer.) Lay them out on your skirt piece and arrange until you achieve the desired look. For a full-ruffled skirt, I overlap the ruffles about 1/4 inch. For the tiny baby skirt, I only put 4 ruffles and spaced them out. Mark the placement with a mark at the top edge of the ruffle strip. (If you have a lot of ruffles of different fabrics, you might want to snap a picture with your cell phone so you don’t forget which order you wanted them in).
Draw guide lines for attaching the ruffles with chalk or fabric marker; repeat on other skirt piece.
Sew up one side seam. Finish the seam by whatever method you choose. In this tutorial, all seams will be serged. Hem the top and bottom edges. I used a rolled hem on my serger, but you can fold, press & topstitch or cut with pinking shears or whatever.
Hem both sides of your ruffle strips (rolled hem again, here). Start gathering. Here’s something fun to try for gathering. It works for me. Set your sewing machine to the highest tension (9 on mine) and longest stitch length (5 for me) and it should gather automatically. Saves a TON of time if it works for you. Otherwise, run a basting stitch and hand gather the ruffles.
Attach ruffles to skirt, placing the top edge along the line and stitching down. At this point, the skirt is still open. It’s much easier to sew the ruffles to a flat piece of fabric than to a circle. You can do it the hard way if you want though, and it would probably look a little bit nicer, but for me, the time savings is worth the slight loss of aesthetics that happens by having the ruffles sewn down in one spot. /sewingconfessions
Match the open side seam, right sides together, lining up ruffles as best as you can. Sew side seam and finish.
I like to thread the tail end of serger threads back up into the seam for a really nice finish. Use a yarn darning needle with a big hole. *I-Learned-the-Hard-Way-Tip*: If you accidentally cut the thread off too short, you can stick the needle in the seam first and then thread it and pull it through.
Fold down and press your casing allowance.
Stitch closed close to the bottom edge, leaving a small hole open for inserting the elastic. Thread elastic through, stitch ends together, tuck them up inside the casing and finish sewing the casing shut.
And done! Admire your handiwork and take some pictures to show the rest of us, please!
