Ruffle Dress for the Ruffle Event

You just have to know how excited I was when Kate from See Kate Sew invited me to participate in her Ruffle Event. SO EXCITED!

Of course, when she actually asked for our ruffle projects so she could plan the specifics for her event, my mind was a complete blank for days. When you check out all of her ruffle projects and her awesome guests (and the rest of her amazing blog), you will see exactly why I was stressed out!

For my project, I had to go with a little girl’s dress—my favorite place to put ruffles. I ran through so many ideas, but decided I would challenge myself on this one. With three girls of my own, (yes, the oldest two are fraternal twins—lots of emails about that last week ;) I have lots of opportunities to sew dresses, but I don’t always get to try out my ideas on them.

I call this my Idol Style Dress because I was inspired by a blouse on American Idol (yes, I am a groupie) worn by Ashton Jones the night she was eliminated. I loved the look, but wasn’t so sure I could really replicate it in a way I was happy with. I wanted it to have both sleeves and I wanted to use silky fabric, but I really don’t like sewing on silky fabric. I finally figured out how to make this dress work and decided to go with a washable polyester fabric that was also inexpensive.

Right look, right style, right price!

Materials

fabric

coordinating thread

1/4 inch elastic

Instructions

Make a pattern to cut the armhole.

Use an armhole from a blouse or dress to get the arc for the armhole. Trace the arc shape (and shape it up a bit like I did) on the corner of a sheet of paper. Be sure to make it 1/2 inch longer on each end than the actual armhole so you have enough fabric for a seam allowance. Make the corner into a rectangle (last picture) and cut out the armhole shape.

Cut 2 rectangles for the dress front and back.

You will need to estimate on this one. I googled average chest and waist sizes by age and then actually checked a few patterns to get an idea of finished sizes to help figure out how big to make the rectangles. I wanted the dress to be gathered a little at the top so I wasn’t too worried about it being too big there, but didn’t want it to be huge around the legs. If you aren’t comfortable with this, you could always cut newspaper to size and check it on the child. (Remember, the top will be gathered so it will have to be “too wide” at the top.)

Cut out the armholes.

Fold the rectangles in half lengthwise. Place the armhole pattern along the top and side edges (raw edges, not folded edges) and cut out the armhole openings.

Cut out 2 circles for the ruffles.

Straight cut gathered ruffles don’t work for this dress—it turns out like a clown collar. I thought bias cut ruffles would be perfect, but they didn’t add as much flounce as I wanted. Circle cut ruffles are perfect for this because they are flouncy ruffles and they give enough room for the collar to be a collar and still drape nicely over each shoulder. If you haven’t used circle cut ruffles, you have to try it. They are gorgeous and they even ruffle (flounce) without a gathering stitch.

I have done this with commercial patterns in the past, so I kind of winged it for this. The first try didn’t work, but the second did. When I searched for some info to offer a resource for you, I found THIS excellent source. It describes how to make circle ruffles so you can get it right the first time. My ruffles ended up being huge and a bit elliptical, but still worked. Since I also gathered them onto an elastic neckline, it really didn’t matter. I think next time, I would make them a little smaller so the collar is still flouncy, but not as full from the gathers.

Here’s what you should have to make this dress:

Sew back to front. 

With right sides together (RST), sew the back to the front at each side. Press seam flat.

(Difficult to see in the pictures—sorry.)

Finish armholes.

Turn armhole edge in 1/4 inch and press in place. Turn in another 1/4 inch and press in place. Sew along edge. Sew slowly around the curves to keep the seam in place and prevent puckering.

Repeat for other armhole.

Turn to right side and press armhole seams smooth.

Try to lay it flat on the ironing board in the U shape of the armhole to do this. 

Make collar.

Use a pin to mark the center of each circle piece.

Use a pin to mark the center front and center back of the dress.

Sew one circle to the other circle at both ends. You will now have one giant circle that is already flouncy.

Press seams flat.

Serge or zig zag the top edge of the collar. Remove the centered pin as you come to it, but put it right back after sewing past that point for the next step.

(You can also mark your fabric with chalk, but I always lose my chalk lines--not my pins!)

Finish the bottom edge of the collar.

I used a rolled hem on my serger, but you can also sew a narrow hem where you turn it under 1/4 inch, sew along the folded edge, trim the excess fabric close to the stitching, then turn it again the width of the seam and sew in place close to the edge.

(I suspect that you can make your ruffle wider and fold it so you don’t even have to hem it, but I was worried that it would be too heavy and make some of my flounces hang out.)

Press hem flat.

Sew collar to dress.

Place the collar inside of the dress to match the center of the collar (marked with a pin) with the center of the front of the dress. The right side of the collar should face the wrong side of the dress.

Repeat for the back of the dress.

Sew the collar to the dress along the top edge of the dress using a zig zag stitch. You will sew right up to the edge—there is no seam allowance. Only sew the collar to the dress along the dress section. Do not worry about the rest of the collar sections—these will become the sleeves (the top of the armhole).

Sew along the entire collar and the dress sections with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. This is kind of weird because you will sew the collar to the dress (again), but the collar sections for the armholes will just be a sewing line along the collar.

Flip the collar over the top of the dress so the wrong side of the collar is facing the right side of the dress.

Slowly and carefully, press the entire collar section so that everything is smooth.

You will make a folded section (folding along your sewing line) where there is no dress front or dress back.

(I didn’t have a pink dress picture for the inside, but the blue dress shows the inside view really well.)

Slowly sew along the entire collar section using a 3/8 inch seam allowance. Leave a small opening to insert the elastic.

(Mine puckered a little on this part, but it is okay since this will be gathered anyway.)

Insert elastic.

Cut elastic to neck measurement. Use a safety pin to slide the elastic through the casing.

Sew ends of elastic together and ease into casing.

Sew casing closed being careful not to catch the edge of the elastic in the stitches.

The collar is finished! {woo-hoo}

Hem the dress.

Hem the dress by turning under 1/4 inch, pressing, and turn under 1/4 inch again.

Stitch in place.

Press flat.

Done!

Lots of instructions (and comments), but the dress is so fast and easy to make.

You should know that I love to sew with patterns—very precise patterns. This project was a huge challenge for me. If I can sew a dress with such general directions for sizing, you can definitely do it!

I just love the way it turned out. It’s almost exactly the way I pictured when I saw the inspiration blouse on American Idol. I can’t say I am ready to ditch my precise patterns or that I will be sewing on silky types of fabrics frequently, but I just love this dress and feel inspired and motivated to try all kinds of things that aren’t in my comfort zone.

And, really, I owe it all to Kate and her Ruffle Event! Thanks, Kate!

Get over there and check it out!

(And it isn’t just girl ruffles either!)

(I'll be linking to the places in my sidebar--check them out!)