Ruffle Skirt Tutorial

At last, I’m sitting down to write up the tutorial for the ruffle skirts I made for my younger girls this summer.

This tutorial had more steps, so it took longer to get it done.  I hope the steps make sense, and I hope you enjoy making these!  

Supplies Needed to Make a Ruffle Skirt

To make these skirts, you’ll need the following:

1. Two coordinating fabrics (for sizes 3/4, 5/6, and 7/8, you’ll need 1/2 yard of the floral print, and 1/2 yard of the polka dot print. For size 9/10 you’ll need 3/4 yard of floral fabric and 3/4 yard of polka dot).

2. Scissors

3. Thread

4. 3/4″-wide elastic (you’ll need to measure your child’s waist or an item of clothing that fits them well in the waist to get the right length, as there are no measurements available for this).

How to Make a Ruffle Skirt

First, cut out your fabrics (here are the measurements for the different sizes):

Size 3/4 (finished length: 10 1/8″)

From the floral fabric, cut:

Two–6 1/4 x 24 1/2″ rectangles for upper ruffle

Two–5 x 13″ rectangles for upper band

From the polka dot fabric, cut:

Two–4 3/4 x 24 1/2″ rectangles for lower ruffle

Two–3 1/4 x 13″ rectangles for lower band

Size 5/6 (finished length: 13 1/8″)

From the floral fabric, cut:

Two–7 1/4 x 25″ rectangles for upper ruffle

Two–6 x 13 1/2″ rectangles for upper band

From the polka dot fabric, cut:

Two–5 3/4 x 25 ” rectangles for lower ruffle

Two–4 1/4 x 13 1/2″ rectangles for lower band

Size 7/8 (finished length: 16 1/8″)

From the floral fabric, cut:

Two–8 1/4 x 25 1/2″ rectangles for upper ruffle

Two–7 x 14″ rectangles for upper band

From the polka dot fabric, cut:

Two–6 3/4 x 25 1/2″ rectangles for lower ruffle

Two–5 1/4 x 14″ rectangles for lower band

Size 9/10 (finished length: 19 1/8″)

From the floral fabric, cut:

Two–9 1/4 x26″ rectangles for upper ruffle

Two–8 x 14 1/2″ rectangles for upper band

From polka dot fabric, cut:

Two–7 3/4 x 26″ rectangles for lower ruffle

Two–6 1/4 x 14 1/2″ rectangles for lower band

(Note: These skirts do tend to run a bit small, so keep that in mind. I made a size 7/8 for my daughter who just turned 6, and it is not too big for her. The 9/10 does fit my 10-year-old daughter, but she is small for her age.)

~Measurements include 1/4″ seam allowances.~

As you cut out your fabrics, you may find it helpful later if you label each piece. Otherwise all the rectangles can get a little confusing (or maybe that was just me!).

And now we’re ready to sew!

1. Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, sew together the upper band rectangles along short edges to make a tube:

2. Join upper ruffle rectangles along short edges to make a ruffle tube:

3. Serge or zig-zag the raw edges of the seams:

4. Turn under 1/4″ on one long edge of ruffle tube and press. Turn under a second time 1/4″ and press.

5. Sew through all layers close folded edge to hem:

6. Sew gathering stitches 1/4″ from long raw edge of the ruffle tube (the longer rectangle). You only need to sew one row of gathering stitches, but I did two:

7. Pull up threads to gather edge:

8. With raw edges aligned and right sides together, match seams of gathered ruffle with bottom edge of upper band:

9. Adjust ruffle to fit band:

Line up the side seams:

10. Pin and stitch to make upper skirt. Press seam allowance toward upper band:

11. Repeat the above steps using lower band rectangles and lower ruffle rectangles to make the lower skirt:

Now you should have the upper skirt (the floral fabric in my example below) and the lower skirt (the polka dot fabric in the example below):

12. With raw edges aligned, match seams of right side lower band with wrong side of upper ruffle where upper band and upper ruffle are joined. To accomplish this, I turned both skirts inside out, so that the wrong sides were showing. I also folded the upper (floral) skirt so that the upper ruffle is at the top.

Then I inserted the upper (floral) skirt into the lower (polka dot) skirt portion.

Match up the raw edges… these edges should both be raw, but I got excited and zig-zagged my raw edge on the blue floral fabric before I realized I didn’t need to do this! Oh, well, it still worked out.

Make sure you are matching the right side lower band with the wrong side of upper ruffle where upper band and upper ruffle are joined.

This part is kind of tricky. The “lower band” is the part that isn’t ruffled (the shorter rectangle) on the pink polka dot fabric. The “upper ruffle” is the ruffled portion of the blue floral skirt.

So, you are wanting to match the band of the underskirt to the ruffled section of the overskirt, if that makes sense. I would suggest pinning this and making sure it looks right before sewing it together, so you know you have the right pieces attached.

13. Pin and stitch through all layers.

Now you are almost done!

The upper and lower skirt portions are now attached:

14. Turn under top edge of skirt 1/2″ and press:

15. Turn under a second time 1 1/8″ and press:

16. Leave a 2″ opening for inserting the elastic (I marked mine with pins), and then sew through all layers:

17. Insert the elastic. I attached a safety pin to the end of my elastic to feed it through the casing. Sew ends of elastic together and sew the opening shut. Then press the skirt, trim all loose threads, and you’re done!

Enjoy your cute new skirt! 🙂

Let me know if I left something out or something doesn’t look right. I am just a mom typing out a tutorial to help other moms, and I’m not infallible!

The inspiration and measurements for this tutorial came from Quilts and More Magazine, Summer 2008. I have re-written parts of the instructions, and the photos are mine.