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Ruffles are a feminine touch for any hem, and, since they're basically just strips of fabric, easy to do. If your commercial pattern doesn't include a ruffle pattern piece, it's simple to add one on your own.

First, decide just how ruffled you want your ruffle to be. For a gentle ruffle, a strip about ten percent longer than the hem itself will work, while something half again as long will produce a substantial but not overwhelming ruffle. Anything more than twice the length of the hem will be unwieldy and might not hang correctly. (Keep in mind, too, that you don't have to make the ruffle out of the same fabric as the main piece. Contrasting colors on a cuff ruffle, or an eyelet ruffle on a little girl's dress, for example, can look great.) It might be best to cut a strip much longer than you know you want and experiment with pinning it to see what length produces an effect you like.

Meanwhile, the width of your strip is also a question. You can make a ruffle with a hemmed single thickness of fabric, or cut it twice as wide, fold it in half, and sew the raw edges to the hem you're attaching it to.

Once you have the length and width of ruffle strip that you want, get it ready. If you need to hem it, do so; if you're folding, press the fold and pin the raw edges together (right sides out). Then gather it to the length of the hem it's meant to match.

To gather, there are a couple of options. For one-layer ruffles and thin fabrics, do the gathering like you would any other time: run two lengths of basting stitches (4-6 per inch, 2-3 per cm) along the edge in the seam allowance, and pull them to gather. If your fabric is very heavy or multiple layers threaten to break gathering threads, there's a trick you can use with dental floss, fishing line or crochet cotton-anything strong and smooth. Cut a piece a few inches longer than the ruffle, and sew a zigzag over it along the length of the seam. Use a stitch length comparable to what you'd use for basting and the widest zigzag your machine will produce, and be careful not to catch the extra cord with the needle. When you're done, you can pull on the extra cord to gather the edge of the ruffle to the correct length, and it'll slip out neatly once the ruffle's pinned in place.

Once the ruffle is the right length and pinned on, sew it like any other seam. Secure any raw edges as usual, and you're done.

Learn more about this author, Carrie Schutrick.
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