rows of ruffles dress at Ruffles 2012

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We love the annual “Ruffles” series at See Kate Sew! We shared this Rows of Ruffles tutorial there first and thought we’d share it here as well!

Piper Jane’s “Rows of Ruffles” dress was inspired by a store window at the Gap, actually. Around Christmas, they had these fabulous dresses as part of their displays, ruffled top to bottom, in graduated hues of pink. Those little ruffled goodies were the launching point for this dress.

Would you like to make one as well? You’ll need-

-a dress pattern matching the silhouette you’re going for

-white fabric (I used Kona Cotton- I think the color is ‘snow’)

-non fray chiffon in graduating tints (I ordered half a yard of candy pink, light pink, pale pink and fushia and a yard of white)

-sewing machine and supplies

1. First, make a plain white dress (I used Violet Field Threads Fiona dress pattern, but you could use any pattern or tutorial you want!). Before attaching the skirt portion of the dress, I ironed the soon to be ‘skirt’ in half and then in half again, creating four equal horizontal quadrants. If you don’t have a separate skirt portion (or are planning on covering the entire dress with ruffles), this won’t be necessary. However, it was helpful for keeping my ruffles straight (especially with the fullness of the skirt).

2. Cut the chiffon into one inch strips.

3. Layer a strips of chiffon (the darkest hue you have) in ruffles or pleats and pin in place along the bottom edge of the dress. You can either ruffle the strips by sewing basting strip down the middle and gathering, or pin pleats in place as you pin (this was my method). Sew in place with invisible thread. Repeat another layer with the darkest hue.

4. Repeat up the skirt, lightening your hue after every two strips.

5. After the entire skirt is covered in varying shades of pink ruffles, add overlapping, graduated layers along the top (pin and sew each in place). Each new layer should cover half of the bottom ruffle and half of the ruffle above it. Also, I used one fushia layer, two darkest-light pink layers, two-medium light pink layers, two lightest light pink layers and one white layer. This extra level of ruffles adds to the ombre effect.

6. You’re done (though, you can add little bows on each shoulder strap if you please). One ruffle-y, layer-y, twirly pink dress for the little darling in your life.

 

Happy ruffle-ing friends!

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