Ruffle Skirt DIY

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Copy one of the trendiest looks this year and sew a ruffle wrap skirt!
Ruffles are everywhere and this one is SO easy to replicate. Read on for the full sewing
tutorial with step by step photos and instructions for this DIY. Bonus: it fits a myriad of sizes!

Hey all! Summer is here and our family’s hanging with friends and cousins, at the pool most days and living off popsicles :). Before we know it, it’ll be time for Independence Day bbq’s and fireworks!

This year I wanted to make a celebratory 4th of July outfit (since a girl only needs so many American flag t-shirts) and I wanted to be able to wear it after the holiday as well. I wasn’t quite sure where to start so started getting some ideas from places like The How To Crew before going about making the skirt.

This skirt was inspired by the myriads of ruffly wrap skirts we keep seeing this season and it turned out just the way I was envisioning! It may look complicated but it is so NOT. If you can sew a straight line, you can make this skirt! (Or check out these links to my fave ready-to-wear versions!) I’m especially in love with this one and I recently bought this one!

NOTE: These measurements worked well for my post-baby waist measurement of about 34″…if you’re significantly smaller or larger than that, you may need to make some adjustments, although a wrap skirt is very flexible! Also, I use a 3/8″ seam allowance throughout.

Let’s do it!

What you’ll need:

3 yards of 54″ striped blue & white shirting (this is the fabric used to make men’s shirts and what I used, but any number of fabrics could work for this. A rayon would be flowy and gorgeous!)
Lightweight fusible interfacing (enough to line a strip of fabric 54″ x 3″)
Coordinating thread

1. Cut your fabric into the following: 1 piece measuring 54″ x 27″ for the skirt body and 3 pieces measuring 54″ x 20″ for the ruffles (you’ll also have a scrap piece leftover – save this for the waistband). Lay the skirt body on the floor and cut one long side into a rough “U” shape as pictured. My short sides ended up being about 9″ long on the left, 11″ long on the right and the longest middle portion measured 26″ long. This doesn’t have to be really precise so don’t stress!

2. Now we need to add some darts to the top of the skirt in order to account for the difference between hips and waist. Wrap this piece of fabric around you with the straight edge at your waist. Pinch any excess fabric at the waist, in 2 or 4 different places, and pin. (I originally only made two 2″ darts in the back (as you can see in the photo below), but after wearing the skirt once, I realized I need to add 2 more at the sides or front.). Sew the darts from top of skirt down and instead of backstitching, tie your thread tails in a knot (my darts were 7″ long but this depends on the length of your waist). The amount you take in for darts should roughly equal the difference between your waist and hip measurements.

Hem short sides of skirt (I didn’t do this before adding ruffles which was a mistake!)

3. Take the other 3 rectangles (measuring 20″ x 54″) and gather each piece along one long side: sew a gathering stitch about 1/4″ from the raw edge and then a second row of stitching about 1/2″ from the first row. Pull your bobbin threads taut and gather the fabric. Sew your three gathered pieces into one long piece by stitching them together along the short sides. Hem short ends of ruffle.

4. Pin the gathered edge of your ruffle to the bottom (curved edge) of your skirt, right sides together, by matching up raw edges and distributing gathered fabric evenly. Stitch ruffle to skirt by sewing between your two rows of basting; remove any basting thread that shows on the right side of the skirt. Finish seam and press well.

5. Create waistband and ties by cutting remaining fabric into 2 long strips, each measuring 2.75″ x 54″. Take one strip and add the fusible interfacing to the wrong side of fabric. Then sew the RIGHT side of this strip (waistband) to the WRONG side of the top of your skirt (see pic below).

6. Press waistband and seam allowance up, then press down opposite raw edge of waistband 3/8″. Finally, fold waistband in half lengthwise and topstitch on the front of waistband, very close to fold.

7. Now take the remaining strip of fabric and cut it so that you have 2 pieces, one measuring about 37″ long and the other 18″. As you can see from the pictures, I wrap mine so that it ties on my left side which means that when looking at my skirt flat on the floor (ruffle closest to me), the left tie is super long (that’s the 37″ tie) and the right tie is shorter (18″). Sew each of these ties to their respective sides of the waistband and iron the ties so they lay like the waistband (raw edges folded under 3/8″ and then folded in half lengthwise).

8. Finally, topstitch close to the open edge, all the way down to the end of the ties so they’re closed up. Then fold under short raw ends and topstitch those too.

9. Finally, try your skirt on by wrapping the left side over your body first, then the right side over it. Figure out where you want your left tie to go through the waistband on your right side; add a buttonhole there. Again, this placement is very flexible since you can tie your skirt as tight or as loose as you like. Finish by hemming your ruffle and voila! All done!

I hope you love wearing your flouncy flamenco-like skirt and showing off your mad skills. Comment and let me know what you think of this ruffle-mania trend going around and if you’d wear a crazy number like this one!