No-frills ruffle making

Yes, I know they make fancy gadgets that are supposed to make ruffles easy. But it turns out that lost boys don’t wear ruffles, and one twirly girl only needs so many ruffles (her mother needs even fewer), so I’d rather spend my sewing money on things that I would use more. I’m going to share a few ruffling pointers, in hopes that someone else can benefit from knowing how to make ruffles using only thread and pins–sewing machine optional.

1. If needed, seam strips to be used for ruffles. For best results the length of your ruffle should be at least 2.5-3 times longer than the garment edge.
2. Hem one long side now. You can do it later, but it’s easier now. I used a serger-rolled hem on this project but any narrow hem will work. For narrow ruffles (1″ wide or less) I eliminate the hem by cutting the fabric twice as wide as needed and pressing in half after the strips are seamed together (the folded edge serves as my hem).
3. Divide strip in quarters and mark with pins. For a long ruffle, you’ll want to stop/start basting at each pin; but even if your ruffle is short, it’s easier to mark while everything is still flat.
4. Sew two rows of basting stitches (stitch length 6.0) on the raw edge. Stitch the first row just to the left of where your seam will be later, and stitch the second row between the first row and the raw edge. In this example my seam will be 1/4″, so I basted at 3/8″ from the edge and then again at about 3/16″ from the edge.

   
5. Pin ruffle to garment right sides together and matching the pins used to mark the quarters. If it’s a long ruffle like this one I also pin them together roughly halfway between these quarter marks.
6. Working on one section at a time, grab both bobbin threads and start pulling until the ruffle length is the same as the garment between the 2 pins. As I gather, I make sure any loose threads are out of the way of my future seam. This may seem fiddly now, but it’s much easier than trying to remove them from your seam later.

   
7. Wrap the threads around the pin so your gathers stay put until stitched.

   
8. I use my thumbnail to help distribute the gathers evenly across the whole section. Use as many pins as needed to keep your ruffle where you want it.

   
9. Repeat steps 6-8 until all sections are gathered and pinned.
10. Now it’s time to make this permanent! Your main goal here is to keep your needle between the two rows of basting so that one row of basting can be removed and the other will be hidden in the seam allowance. I’m using my serger on this project, so I just watch the markings on the front of the foot as I stitch, letting the machine trim any excess (including the tails of my basting threads, as well as any ravelly threads!).

    
11. Now comes the fun part. . .assuming I didn’t stitch over my basting threads! I keep my seam ripper & thread snips handy just in case. Again working with the bobbin thread from the first row of basting (the one that’s not in the seam allowance), wiggle an end loose (at the quarter marks where you stopped/started basting). Pull firmly but gently; if it hasn’t been stitched over it can be removed in one piece!  

    
12. Flip ruffle to right side and remove the needle thread. Wheee!! This is also a good time to take care of any naughty loose threads caught by the seam.

    
13. Press the seam towards the garment and topstitch in place (stitch length 3.5) using edge of presser foot as your guide.  You could skip this step, but the topstitching helps the ruffle lay much better after washing and wearing (read: less likely to need ironing).

    

And there you have it: ruffles in 13 painless steps. There are, I’m sure, easier or faster methods. But this always gives me the satisfaction of good results with no extra tools required.

Happy ruffling!

---