Cascading Ruffles Sew-A-Long Day 3

 

Are you excited for today? 

Today we are going to start sewing up the dress.  The ruffles are easy, but can be a little time consuming. Totally worth it though,Well, lets get started!

First thing we are going to do is change out our needle!

 

You need to use a Ball Point needle.  These are made to sew jersey/knit fabrics. Because it has a ball point tip it doesn't pierce the fabric causing  holes or breaks in the fabric.

 

To gather the ruffles you are going to grab one of the rectangles you cut out yesterday. Sew 1/4" from the edge  using the longest possible stitch length. Sew again 1/4" the stitch you just sewed. do this with all five of the rectangles.

**Also you can hem the ruffles. I opted not to because jersey doesn't fray, but it's a personal choice**

 

Next you need to find the center of each ruffle. To do that fold the rectangle in half lengthwise and mark the center with a pin.  Repeat with the remaining rectangles.

 

Now you are going to pin the first ruffle (6" in length) to the center front piece.  To make sure everything was centered I folded the center front piece in half and ironed it, leaving a crease to mark the center is. Lay the ruffle on top of the center piece matching centers and pin.  Pin the edges. Now you need to gather the ruffle.

 Now it's time to sew the ruffle. You are going to sew right in the middle of the gathering stitches.  This will keep the gathers from become puckered or folded.

 

Next thing I did was lay out my other ruffles to see how far apart I wanted them to be.

I went ahead and pinned the ruffles matching the centers just like on the first ruffle.

 Sew each ruffle down just the same as the first one.

Next I pinned the edges of the ruffles to the edges of the center piece as basted them in place.

 

Next take one of the front side pieces and lay it on top of the center ruffled panel with the right sides together.

Sew or serge.

 

Iron seam away from the center.

 

Repeat with the other front side.

That's it for today. Tomorrow we will sew the front to the back and sew in the sleeves!

See you tomorrow!