Tulle ruffle adds a nice touch to any girly dress and here’s how I made the ruffles for my niece’s Jubilee Birthday Girl Dress. The pattern should have a skirt lining which is cut slightly shorter than the fashion fabric.
Step 1 – Measure the skirt lining’s hem circumference.
Step 2 – Decide the height of the tulle ruffle, mine is about 3 inches plus 5/8″ seam allowance on the gathered side along the top. The length of the tulle ruffle should be at least twice the skirt lining’s hem circumference.
Step 3 – Cut out the tulle and stitch the ends of the tulle with a straight stitch using 1/2″ seam allowance. To avoid the sewing machine from ‘eating’ the tulle when stitching. I pulled the thread end to keep the tulle taut.
Pull the thread end to avoid the machine from ‘eating’ the tulle
Stitch the tulle’s ends together
Step 4 – Sew 1 row of long basting stitches (I set my machine’s stitch length to 5) 1/4″ away from the ruffle’s top cut edge.
1st row of long basting stitch
Step 5 – Then sew another row of basting stitch 1/4″ from the first basting line. Pull the bobbin threads to suit the skirt hem’s circumference.
2nd row of basting stitch
Step 6 - Align the gathered ruffle’s top edge to the wrong side of the lining skirt hem. Stitch.
Align the gathered top edge of the ruffle to the lining skirt’s hem
Step 7 – Flip the ruffle down and stitch again. This encloses the raw edge of the ruffle to avoid scratching.
Flip the ruffle down and stitch
Done!
Inside of the Jubilee Birthday Girl Dress
The finished tulle ruffle hem
