Removing a ruffle from a bustle petticoat
Am I done yet? Ugh! The never ending strip of fabric kept coming over the ironing board edge where I was hunched over pressing and pressing up one long edge for a hem.
Have you made a petticoat and just gone crazy with getting the thing decorated with ruffles? Or do you shy away from even attempting a ruffled petticoat because the ruffles get the better of you?
Use these tips the next time you sew a petticoat for smooth sailing through the waves of gathers & pleats.
Gathered ruffles on a poly taffeta petticoat
Ruffles are really simple. Really. Think about it –
1. You cut strips of fabric and piece them together (basic seam, no problem).
2. Then you hem one long edge (lots of variations here but still not too hard).
3. Next you gather up the other long edge (ok, this might launch some people into orbit).
4. Finally you pin and attach the ruffle to your petticoat or skirt or bodice or whatever and stitch down. (And here’s where we lose people.)
I’ve been sewing ruffles since I was about 12. I LOVE ruffles! There’s just something romantic and girl-y about them… and Victorian.
It was that overly challenging project I just HAD to sew – a dropped-waist bodice with long sleeves and a skirt comprised of three tiers of VERY full gathered ruffles (think square dance skirt).
Yep. That was me and my grandmother on step 3 and 4 stretched across her back room – all 17 feet of it – with each tier in a loop we were trying to gather up to fit the hem of the one above it. We laughed ourselves silly it was so long.
But I loved it. Too bad the dress has been lost to time for I dearly cherished it. I made that dress before I could even hand tack the bias hemmed edges at the wrists, neck, and yes, the bottom ruffle hem.
I’ve learned quite a bit since that ruffle wrestling. Ruffles, despite their incessant length, go together quite effortlessly.
Ruffles on the back of a bustle petticoat
Let’s take, for example, a plain, mid-19th Century ruffled petticoat with one deep ruffle (or flounce – which is just a deep ruffle). The tips here can be applied to most ruffles but we’ll discuss a simple garment to learn the essence of Royal Ruffles.
Step 1: Cutting the Strips
Measure the line on your petticoat skirt where you’ll sew the ruffle on. Depending on the silhouette you want, multiply the line measurement by 1 ½ to 3 times. I usually go with double (x2). This figure is how many inches you’ll need to cut, or how long your ruffle needs to be before gathering.
The ruffle strip width is from the stitch line down to the hem (maybe a ½” below but not more than that) plus allowance for a hem and top fold-down.
Use a long ruler to draw cutting lines straight across your fabric or use a rotary cutter & ruler to cut the strips. Keep the lines perpendicular to the selvedge/grainline.
Keep the selvedges intact and piece your strips together to equal your measurement.
Step 2: Hem One Edge
For a period correct petticoat hem, turn up the raw edge, press and turn up again. Sew down. This is called a double hem.
This is where it can take FOREVER to finish. I usually press that first edge up along the whole length of ruffle then go back and press the second fold.
This regular, consistent motion will get it done faster than making both folds and pressing only an ironing board’s width at one time.
Step 2B: Hem Other Edge, if desired
On some of my petticoat ruffles, since they won’t be seen, I serge both long raw edges then turn under the hem ½” and stitch down. The top is left as is. You can double hem the top too if you’ll be sewing the ruffle down flat on the petticoat or it’ll be seen on a dress.
If you want to cheat a little, serge the edges or even pink them with shears or a shaped rotary blade.
Step 3: Gather
MOST IMPORTANT: quarter mark your ruffle and petticoat. Break your gathering stitches at these marks. If your ruffle is really long, further mark into eighths and break stitching here for eight sections.
A. Run 2 rows of the longest machine basting stitch, one on each side of the stitch line. Match quarter marks to petticoat. When pulling up the threads, wrap them around pins at the quarter marks to hold.
Gathering with pins
OR
B. Fold top edge over a string, yard or cord and sew (regular stitch length) near the cord as you would when making piping. Your stitching should be on the seamline. But DON’T sew the cord in tightly. Push the fabric along the cording to gather up.
Corded gathers pinned to skirt
OR
C. Set your machine at the widest and longest zigzag stitch. Very carefully sew OVER buttonhole thread or dental floss with the thread/floss on the seamline. Pull up the thread to gather up. Pin and top stitch to petticoat.
OR
D. Use a ruffler foot on your machine to pleat up the ruffle.
Ruffler Foot
Step 4: Sew On Petticoat
Match the seamline on the ruffle to the stitch line on the petticoat, pin and topstitch down.
Stitching ruffle onto petticoat
Another trick I like to do is to place the ruffle right sides together with the petticoat, stitch then flip the ruffle down. I do this for two reasons.
One, if I DID serge the top edge or even left the edges raw and don’t want that showing, this hides them under the ruffle. Two, this seaming method gives a little “kick” to the ruffle at the stitch line.
I adore ruffles. They’re so much fun and give your costume “bounce.” And once you know how to zip through the construction process you’ll start controlling the ruffles instead of them controlling you.
Finished Skirt Ruffles on a 1875 dress
Do you find yourself wrestling with ruffles? What issues do you come across? What have you found to help you get them done and still have your sanity?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I adore your blog – thank you so much for sharing all this information.
Under step 3, did you mean to say to pick one method – either A,B,C,OR D for gathering? I was trying to do them all in my mind one after the other and could not follow!
Thanks, Joanna
Yes! Only pick one for how you want to gather up the ruffle. Doing all four on one ruffle could get quite confusing!
Step 3…I hate it. It’s a necessary evil, but it takes SO long. Hemming anything really. Probably the most boring aspect of costuming, especially if done by hand.
I recently threw a project into the “I might finish you if I don’t burn you first” pile because of step 4. I felt a bit dumb since how hard can it be to sew on a flounce? But sewing on ruffles isn’t like sewing on nice, straight knife pleats. I wanted the flounce to overlap the hem by a half inch or so, but when I tried to do that, visually it looked crooked when I tried it on. Any tips on trying to put on a flounce without sewing the right sides together approach?
I’ve been using 3C or 3D for years now, depending on the project. My question is about the double hem. I typically use the 1/4″ rolled hem foot on my machine to give a nice finished hem to my historical ruffles or pleats, and then iron it down. Is that too fine a hem for the period or should I take that extra time to iron down the edges and then straight stitch a slightly deeper hem?
Depends on your fabric and also the time period you’re doing. The 1/4″ rolled hem is fine for delicate ruffles. I tend to make mine a 1/4″ double hem sewn flat (not rolled). I have seen some ruffles with larger hems, like 1″ to 2″ on deep ruffles of the 1850s & 60s. The hems seem more narrow in the bustle periods.
What fabric were you using for the ruffles on the petticoat in this blog post? At first I thought it was satin, then I thought maybe organdy. Can you enlighten me?
Well… the first pic and one of the petticoat back with ruffles is plain ol’ cotton muslin (a heavier weave) from JoAnn Fabrics. The second pic is a petticoat from poly taffeta lining. The green example is a sheer voile cotton. No organdy here I’m afraid. This was before I decided organdy was THE fabric for petticoat ruffles as it’s sheer and light and stiff.
Excellent – thank you. I was confused, lol. I did read the blog on organdy – I’m intrigued and plan to try it out. Another question for you – if you had to make a silk petticoat, what type of silk fabric would you use? Taffeta? Satin? Something else?
Thanks again!
Depends on what kind of petticoat (shape & time period). Today’s silk taffeta is too expensive for a petticoat. But historically it was lighter weight and was used for fancy petticoats. Silk organza would be lovely and hold well. Satin is the same as taffeta – too expensive. I know peau de soie and crepe de chine were silks used for undergarments in the early 1900s. I generally use cottons for all my petticoats – muslin, polished, organdy – and use starch on some of them too for a papery finish.
This would be early bustle period, perhaps natural form, but not late bustle or later. Somewhere around 1875-1878.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge so freely. I had assumed taffeta would be the one to use (based on stiffness). Your comment about cost is a fair one. I hadn’t thought of organza – I would have thought it not quite stiff enough. And it is a pain to work with sometimes. I have some very light weight taffeta (not too cost prohibitive, thankfully), which is what I will most likely use.
Thanks again!
I just recently learned a handy crazy easy ruffle technique. It’s all over pinterest. Leave a long tail of thread. Set your stitches to the longest stitch. Set your machine tension (not bobbin tension) to the highest setting. Get your ruffle fabric ready – double hem, serged edges, etc. Start sewing just your ruffle fabric – do NOT sew it to the garment yet. You will see your fabric begin to ruffle behind your foot. I had to gently tug the ruffle out as I sewed so it didn’t bunch up too much. Leave a long tail at the end. You can now adjust the amount of ruffle you want then pin it to your garment. Easiest ruffle EVER.
Another way to gather ruffles…try this on your machine w/ “extra” fabric, NOT your good fabric …to begin with, pls.
You set your upper sewing thread tension as LONG as it will go. Then you set your bobbin tension as SHORT as it will go. Mark your ruffle-to-be at intervuls of 3′ with a marking pen.
Then run the unhemed side through the machine. The TIGHT bobbin thread and LOSE sewing thread will automatically gather the light weight fabric into ABOUT a 1-2 ratio. In other words, every two inches will end up being about one inch long. This is the way I have been gathering ruffles for years and years!! Just remember to return the setting on your machine back to NORMAL before continuing to stitch your garment together!!!
Hi, love the blog post. I am an ex-square dancer and have made lots and lots of ruffles. (I have even worn out ruffler attachments, sigh.)
I also use my “rolled hem” foot for hemming because it basically does make a double folded hem. You can also find them in different sizes, I used to have a set up to at least half inch. (That machine was borrowed back by my mother to loan to someone who never returned it. Really miss that old Commander(?) machine.)
For a sort of scalloped hem edge try using a narrow hemmer foot and a zig-zag or blind hem stitch that goes over the outside folded edge. It takes a bit of practice but can look lovely. You can also, with practice add a bit of cording inside the hem of the ruffle to give it a bit of extra oomph.
Although I haven’t tried it on cotton, with our nylon crinolines we found a wonderful starch substitute. Acrylic floor finish.(Future brand name????) A clear liquid we would put it in a spray bottle and spray our petticoats thoroughly and let them hang until almost dry. Then spread them out with the waist line in the center of the circle mad by them, and let them finish drying.
Because it was meant to hold up for a while on floors, we found that we could keep our light colors clean by swishing in cold water. and only need to really wash them and re-coat about once a year, or so. (And we wore these every week.)
I’m actually doing a shirt with ruffles for a Steampunk costume. It’s something that’s taking quite a long time, as it’s also my first foray into drafting a blouse pattern from scratch–at least, one that’s more complicated than a Renaissance square-shapes thing.
My ruffles are going to be of a sheer material, so I’ve looked into several other ways of dealing with the non-gathered edge. For a while, I was thinking of buttonhole- or satin-stitching with cording, but I decided that would take me FAR too long. I’ve finally settled on doubling my stip width and doing a tube out of it–fold it in half, stitch the narrow ends (for my finished neck ruffle, a French seam, but down the front I don’t even need more than a basting stitch since it’ll be caught in the neck seam and in the hem), then baste the long edge. Then gather as normal. It looks really nice in my muslin, at least!
http://varika.pair.com/livejournal/Front%20ruffle%20sm.jpg <–See?