Making a ruffle aka gathering is a basic sewing technique that you can use a million different ways once you know how to do it. There are a lot of ways to ruffle or gather.

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In this tutorial, I create the ruffle as I sew, instead of gathering the fabric ahead of time. I want to add a ruffled hem to the bottom of a dress.

The first thing I need to do is determine how much fabric I need for my ruffle. How much fabric I need for the ruffle depends on 1.

Now I need to choose and prepare the fabric for my ruffle. For a hem like this, you need at least two times the width of the bottom of the dress for the ruffle.

Double the measurement of the hem. Obviously, the more width you give the ruffle, the fuller the ruffle will be. It will also be heavier, so keep that in mind.

Now, sew together however many pieces of ruffle fabric required to get the width you need and hem it. Or serge it.

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Or trim it with lace. Whatever you prefer! To get even gathering around the whole hem with the least amount of work, we need to divide the bottom into 8 equal sections.

You now have 4 equal quadrants. Complete the octopod by placing 4 more pins at the halfway points between the previously pinned spots. Why eight, you ask?

To be honest, I usually only do 4.

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Just find whatever works best for you. If the bottom was much wider, I might divide it into even more sections. Pay attention to the seams on your ruffle fabric.

I only have 2 seams, so it makes the most sense to line them up with the side seams of the dress.

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Obviously, there will be more ruffle fabric than dress fabric, so just mush it out of the way as you pin. Take up some of the slack of the ruffle fabric, and fold it.

The goal is the get all of the extra ruffle fabric between each set of pins gathered evenly into that area. Just keep making little folds with the ruffle fabric until you get to another pin.

When you get to a pin, take it out and keep sewing. Remember to make sure that the dress fabric is laying flat under those ruffles and folds!

If you tripled the ruffle fabric for the hem, you can smush the folds closer together.

When you get back to where you started sewing, backstitch or chain off, completing the seam. You can do it that way, and basically sew it as one giant monster layered ruffle.

There are some applications where you would, for various reasons, want to do it this way. I sew each ruffle separately onto the bottom of the dress in stripes.

Each layer overlaps the one underneath it, which gives the illusion of a stacked ruffle.

13.01.2020 – Regardless of the occasion or your sense of style, we have one perfect for you. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Note: The additional ruffles have to be sewn on with a regular sewing machine or a coverstitch, but NOT an overlock. This item has been discontinued. Polo Assn.

My guidelines are about 3 inches apart. So add 2 inches to be safe and make them 5 inches long. After that, you pin and sew them the same way you did the bottom layer- just pretend each guide line is the bottom edge of the dress.

Note: The additional ruffles have to be sewn on with a regular sewing machine or a coverstitch, but NOT an overlock. If it will fit tightly or needs to stretch, use a zig-zag.

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Remember Right Sides Together. Sew and ruffle, remembering to keep an even seam allowance. Hi, thanks sooo much for this tutorial!!

It explained alot to me, but I have a question about adding more rufffles. THanks soo much again!

The additional ruffles have to be sewn on with a regular sewing machine. You could also use a coverstitch machine if you have one, but I think the sewing machine is easier.

Thanks for pointing that out, I will add it to the tutorial! Sometimes I forget to mention stuff like that. Your site smarmyclothes. Great tutorial!

Love the look that adding ruffles brings to a garment or accent piece, and this is truly a fun and funky fashion statement. Try to make the direction of the pleats random.

So instead of making all of them lay towards you, or making them alternate towards and then away, make 2 lay towards, 1 away, 1 towards, 3 away, etc.

Thanks for this tutorial. Love the pinch, smush, sew technique! Are there alternative ways to do this look with a stiffer fabric?

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Hi Cassy! You can hem both edges of the ruffle fabric, and then sew it on top of the garment. And no flipping. I hope that makes sense!

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Wow, this is great! Thanks so much for this tutorial! I love your site, its been helping me a lot. Im learning how to sew and I your site it very helpful.

Hi, If you wanted to make the dress longer can I sew an extra piece of fabric to bottom of t-shirt?? I am thinking I need to follow the line of the shirt.

Would I make the extra piece the same width of shirt or a little wider? I hope you understand what I am trying to say… Thanks.

I wanted to add a ruffle to the hem of a pillowcase dress I made and this was perfect. The machine shown in the photos is a Brother D Serger.

But you could use any regular sewing machine.

Thanks for the awesome tutorial! You could try to imitate it with a narrow width zig-zag stitch on a regular sewing machine. Wonderful tute! You explain everything in simple terms a novice seamstress can understand.

Features include two pinched alternating rows of coordinating jewels and verigated vertical slub, 3″ rod pocket with no header, 1″ side hems, and 3″ bottom hem. Bodycon dress with ruffle bottom up curtains Never sacrifice comfort to keep the draperies you carefully selected and can’t bear to part with.

To many sites are worded for experienced hands. I found this while trying to work on a costume for a friend, and after searching for hours online for a decent tutorial I finally found this one.

This has been a great help to me and my project so thanks a lot for the guide.

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I want to do the same thing at the bottom of my jeans. Then I have to cut off the right amount off the bottom of the leg. Can you tell me how to figure all this our out.

I want the bottom ruffle to touch the top of my foot. That way I can figure out how big the ruffles need to be to account for overlapping the layer underneath, etc.

The standard serger stitch allows stretch- nothing special needed. Hiya Lex, your instructions are so clear, thank you, and also the photos all easy to understand.

This short length dress includes a padded bodice, adjustable straps, a zip up back with a plunge neckline. Trellis Grommet Panels pair – Thermalogic. Bodycon dress with ruffle bottom up curtains Machine wash cold water on gentle cycle, tumble dry low heat, low iron touch up. Try using both together on a larger window for an exceptionally custom look.

Can you advise please? Hi Sally!

What part of it is unsatisfactory? Sew up the back seam. Seam each ruffle, and then gather the remaining fabric, and sew it down to the skirt.

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Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Skip to content. Difficulty: Step 1 I want to add a ruffled hem to the bottom of a dress.

Step 1 Step 2 Now I need to choose and prepare the fabric for my ruffle. Step 2 Step 3 To get even gathering around the whole hem with the least amount of work, we need to divide the bottom into 8 equal sections.

Start at the sides, and mark each side with a pin.