Tis the Season for...Ruffles

Ruffles can be a fun addition to a project. Sure, initially when you hear the word you think of a cute addition to a girl's dress.  But they can be used in other ways as well; you can add a ruffle to a pillow, embellish a tote bag, or a Christmas wreath.

There's an easy and a hard way to make ruffles. Of course the absolute easiest way is to buy a ruffler for your sewing machine, but let's skip that option shall we? Instead, let's look at a couple different ways to make the ruffles "by hand". (I'm cheating a bit by using a machine but not a ruffler attachment.)(So it's not a big cheat...more like a little white cheat.)

First you'll want to measure the area that you're adding the ruffle to and multiply it by two. This will give you a fairly full ruffle, but feel free to up that number to 2 1/2 or more if you want. 

Now you have the length of the fabric strip that will be the ruffle, but what about the height? That totally depends on your project. In this case, I want the ruffle to be 1 1/2" high.

Option 1: If I want a stiffer ruffle that will look finished on the front and the back, I'm going to fold the fabric in  half. In this case I double the 1 1/2" height and add 1/2" for the seam. That means I should cut the strip 3 1/2" wide.

Option 2:  A single strip with a rolled hem at the top. I'll take the 1 1/" and add 1/4" for the seam and another 1/4" for a little  rolled hem. In this case, I'll cut my strip 2" wide.  Press the fabric at the top down 1/8" and then another 1/8" and stitch .

Have you ever tried to gather a long strip into a ruffle only to have the thread break? UGH! Very Discouraging. Here are two good tips: 1. Sew the thread for gathering with a very large stitch 2. Sew in short sections within the seam allowance; this way the gathering stitches won't show when you sew the project together 3. You also want those stitches to overlap so there isn't an section of fabric that is flat and won't gather properly. 4. Leave about a 3" tail on both ends of the stitching since you'll use these to pull the gathers. (Okay, so I said 2 tips and ended up with 4...I was in the ballpark.) The fabric will automatically  start to curl like this:

Take hold of those tails and even out the gathers. I usually pin the two ends to the fabric and then in the middle. That way I can try to even out the ruffles:

Final result is a nice even ruffle! Wouldn't this look great at the bottom of a hand towel? Easy Christmas present, I think!