DIY 3 Layer Ruffle Skirt

Hello Everyone,

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted a sewing tutorial but, I wanted to put one out. With the current situation of my health, I can only do tutorials especially sewing when I feel good. I hope you like it.

~Nika xoxo

Items needed:

The first steps in making the skirt are cutting the larger rectangle which is the main part of the skirt. You want to measure your waist and then double that and add 1″. Decide how long you want the skirt to be. I made this skirt for my daughter so I measured made my rectangle 47″ x 10″. For the strips, you want to triple the size of the skirt. My bottom strip I made 4″ in length and the other two are 3″ in length. I used a 1″ non-roll elastic measured the size of the waist. In this case, my daughter’s waist is 23″.

Next, you want to finish the raw edges if you are using a fabric that frays like the one I am using above. My sewing machine came with an overcasting foot. I also have a serger which I did not use for this project. If you don’t have either one you can use a zig-zag stitch. Finish all the raw edges of each piece.

If you are not using a ruffler foot or a gathering foot. You want to set your sewing machines tension to the tightest tension (mine is 9) and the longest length (mine is 4).

Next, you will begin feeding only the strips of fabric to create ruffles. If you want your ruffles to be a little more loose decrease the tension and length until it’s to your liking.

To add the bottom layer of the ruffle to the main part of the skirt. You do this by laying out the main rectangle on the right side of the fabric and pin the wrong side of the 4″ strip to the bottom of the main fabric. The image above should be what it looks like once you’ve finished sewing it on.

Now its time to sew the other two layers of ruffles to the skirt. Find where you want to place the second layer. Place this layer above the first layer as shown. Pin and sew. Repeat this step for the third layer of ruffles. Note these layers are placed on top of the skirt and sewn with a topstitch.

FINISHED LAYERS

Next, meet both sides together on the wrong side of the fabric facing up. Make sure to meet the ruffles together (explained in the video above). Sew the fabric together using either a straight stitch, zig-zag stitch, or both.

Sew the elastic together. I over laped mine and used a zig-zag stitch to close.

After that is complete, take the elastic and pin the front, back, and both sides of the skirt to the elastic.

Once you have it pinned you want to pull the elastic as you sew it to the waist of the skirt. This can be very tricky so you want to make sure you have a firm hold on the fabric and the elastic. This may take some time getting use to but make sure you are holding both sides of the fabric as shown while you are pulling the elastic along. Be careful not to pull too tight you don’t want to break the needle on your machine.

For the last step, roll the waistband over as shown and repeat the same steps as the previous. One thing you want to do differently is to make sure the fabric isn’t bunched up before you begin sewing. You may need to take your time in this process.

Now you are all finished.

Please make sure to leave any questions or comments below. If you would like to share your photos you can tag me on your social media or leave them in the comments section.