Charming Station Embroidery How to Make a Pettiskirt with a Ruffler

Charming Station Embroidery

How to make a Pettiskirt with a ruffler

January 2012

How to Make a Pettiskirt by GiGi and Becky of Charming Station Embroidery

There are lots of ways to make pettiskirts. This tutorial will show you one way but remember that there are no hard and fast rules. You can adapt this so that it works well for you.

This is a “pattern by suggestion” - you can alter the dimensions we suggest here to fit the little one you have in mind. This tutorial will make a skirt to fit a child from about 3 to about 5.

If you are a visual learner, please see our YouTube video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqmOkF2ino4

A note about the photos We started taking photos for this tutorial as Becky was making a pettiskirt for an order. We ended up having to deliver it before we took all the pictures needed so you will see different colors in some of the photos.

This is the basic skirt that we will be making. Becky likes to use the same color for the two 6" ruffles and a contrasting color for the bottom (2") ruffle. She also likes to use glitter satin for the top fabric but will use spandex or other shiny fabrics that she might have on hand. She also uses printed spandex for additional flair.

What you will need

• nylon tricot chiffon - we order pre-cut rolls and get 6 inch for the main part of the skirt and two inch for the trim.

The website is: http://afc-express.com

The rolls pictured here are listed on the website as:

6" Slit Chiffon Roll x 90 yards long 2" Slit Chiffon Roll x 90 yards long

The amount you will need depends entirely on how tightly you ruffle each layer. For the 6 inch roll, Becky gets about 3 pettiskirts per roll.

You definitely want to use nylon tricot chiffon because it is very soft and ruffles very nicely. Netting or tulle would be very scratchy and would not be as attractive. Regular chiffon ravels way too much for this project.

• satin or spandex (or anything glitzy and shiny) for the top of the skirt. You will fold this in half and make a casing for the elastic in this piece so it should be reasonably strong.

• elastic (for the waist) - you will need ½" wide elastic. Measure the waist and add 1 inch. If you are making these for sale, you can use this chart to gauge the size of elastic. Add 1 inch to the size you select

Size 2 3 4 5 6 6x 7 8

US 20" 20½" 21" 21½" 22" 22½" 23" 23½"

Metric 51cm 52cm 53cm 55cm 56cm 57cm 58cm 60cm

• ruffler foot for your sewing machine. You could ruffle these layers by hand but that would be very time consuming and probably not end up very even.

A ruffler looks pretty weird but does one thing very well. You will put one layer of fabric in the bottom level and a second layer of fabric in the upper level. As your machine sews, it gathers the top level fabric and ruffles it as it sews it to the bottom layer (all at the same time).

• optional: a serger for finishing seams. Where we use a serger, you can use a zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine.

• thread (we use a color to match the chiffon so it doesn’t show too much)

• ribbon or trim for the front

Getting Started

• From the fabric you chose for the top of the skirt, cut one piece that is 15 inches wide by the width of the fabric (42 to 45 inches).

• To make our frilly, fluffy pettiskirt, you are going to sew ruffles of chiffon along both of the long edges of this top fabric.

Tip from Becky:

When the chiffon comes off of the roll, the edges will curl in one particular direction. You want to set the roll so that the edges are curling up as shown in this picture. That will allow it to feed through the ruffler foot. If the curl is going down, it will slide out of the ruffler foot and make it harder to sew.

Check the direction of the curl before going on to the next step here.

Another Tip from Becky:

The rolls of chiffon can be a pain in the you-know- what to work with. Becky discovered a simple way to get the chiffon to feed off of the roll into the sewing machine that keeps it clean and right where you need it.

Use a large bowl (like a salad bowl) and place it on the floor. Put the roll of chiffon in the bowl. That keeps it from rolling around on the floor and lets it feed the strip of chiffon up to the table as you need it for the ruffles.

Make sure that the “curl” on the roll of chiffon is going “up” as mentioned above.

• With your top fabric facing up, slide it into the bottom level of the ruffler foot.

• Making sure the curl is “up”, slide the end of the chiffon into the upper level of the ruffler foot.

• If your foot has multiple settings, you may want to experiment with scrap fabrics first to see how much ruffling you want. For a pettiskirt, the more you ruffle, the fluffier it will be. Settings on the foot control how much the top fabric will be gathered before a stitch is made into the other fabric (therefore how much it will be gathered before it is tacked down).

• The stitch length on your sewing machine may also affect the amount of ruffle associated with the ruffler foot. Check your manual to be sure.

• Sew across the entire long edge of the fabric attaching a ruffle as you go (your foot is going to do that).

• You can use both hands to help feed the fabrics into the foot from the front – do NOT pull the fabrics in back of the foot. That will defeat the action of the ruffler.

• You will be sewing along the edge of both fabrics.

• As the fabrics feed through make sure the edge that curls is curling up and feeding through your ruffler foot.

• When you get to the end of the top fabric, remove this from your ruffler foot.

• Use your scissors to cut the strip of chiffon even with the end of the top fabric.

• This does not have to be completely even as you will sew across this raw edge a little later.

• You now have one ruffle across the length of one of the long edges of the top.

• Open this first ruffle out. This will now be the bottom layer.

• Slip the bottom edge of this ruffle in the bottom layer of the ruffler foot.

• Slide the starting edge of the chiffon from the roll in the top level of the ruffler foot. This time the second ruffle is being gathered and added to the bottom edge of the first ruffle.

• Sew across the entire length of this edge

• When you get to the end of this row, trim the chiffon with scissors even with the top and first ruffle.

• You should now have two ruffles along one edge of your top fabric.

• Now repeat these steps to sew two ruffles on to the other long edge of the top fabric.

• Make sure the top fabric is right-side up and in the bottom level of the ruffler.

• Make sure the chiffon is in the top level of the ruffler.

• Sew along the whole length of the top and then trim with scissors.

• Repeat to add the second ruffle to the first one as before.

• When you have added two ruffles your piece will look like this.

• At this point, Becky switches to her Serger

• If you don’t have a serger, put a regular presser foot on your sewing machine and set it to a zig zag stitch.

• To prevent raveling, serge or zig zag long both edges of the top fabric where you attached the first ruffle.

• Fold the raw edges together the way you see it here.

• Serge or zig zag a seam from edge to edge (from the end of the first ruffle all the way down to the edge of the last ruffle)

• Now fold your skirt in half with the wrong sides together (so that it looks like this picture).

• On the sewing machine, use a regular straight stitch to sew a seam about 1 to 1½" inches from the folded edge. This is going to be the casing for the elastic.

• Leave an opening in this casing that will allow you to thread the elastic through.

• You will now add the bottom ruffle to the skirt.

Tip from Becky

For the 2 inch roll, Becky likes to grab a wooden spatula and put it in the roll as show here. This allows the chiffon to feed off the roll without it rolling all around the floor.

• Put the ruffler foot back on the sewing machine.

• Slide the edge of the top layer of ruffle into the bottom level of the ruffler foot.

• Slide the edge of the 2 inch chiffon into the top level of the ruffler.

• This time, sew down the middle of the two inch strip rather than along the edge. This creates a double ruffle across the bottom of the skirt.

• From the inside use a safety pin to thread the elastic through the casing you created.

• If your little one is present you might like to check the waist at this point by trying the skirt on. When you have the elastic the proper length, stitch the loose ends of the elastic together.

Your pettiskirt is basically finished at this point. You can add ribbon like you see here or even glue on rhinestones or crystals to add more bling.