Ruffles. For so long the domain of birthday party attired 6 year olds, this summer the humble frill/ruffle is making a comeback. Seen on shirting, skirting and everywhere in between, some might say it started on the runway but I think it’s more likely dancing girl emoji made it all happen. Either way I’m happy, and excited because it’s one of those things you can totally put together yourself. Read on for how we did it.
Wearing: DIY skirt, Club Monaco top, DIY heels, C/meo collective clutch
The Ruffle Skirt
You need
- A pencil skirt
- Cotton fabric (in a colour to match)
- Sewing machine and thread
- Tailor’s chalk or pencil
- Fabric scissors
- Pins
- Measuring tape
How to
- Cut 20cm (8 in) length strips the width of the fabric. For our ruffle to go around the skirt three times we needed 6 strips in total.
2. Pin and sew the strips together to create one long piece.
3. On one edge of the strip, pin and sew 1cm for the hem. Double it over so there’s no raw edged exposed.
4. Set your sewing machine to its longest stitch length and on the opposite edge, sew two rows of stitching. This will be used to gather the fabric.
5. Grab two threads from the same side and gently pull the fabric to gather.
6. Once you have gathered the whole strip, you will end up with a long continuous ruffle like this.
7. Draw in the curve for the ruffle placement on the skirt.
8. Using the pencil line as a guide, pin and sew the ruffle to the skirt. You’ll need to flip the ruffle so it’s on the wrong side, and point to the top of the skirt, and then once sewn down flip it back so the gathers and seams are all hidden.
Voila!
I really like this baby pink colour, and it works because we found this pink skirt in a second hand store, but I think this would work really well in black, white or even a gingham fabric. What colour would you wear?
