Adding ruffles to RTW jeans - Tutorial

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Big difference, huh?  I'll show you how I did this in about an hour.  Very simple.  I didn't choose these fabrics.  My friend, Cheryl, did.  She had a shirt embroidered for her dgd and wanted the jeans to match.

The belt was easy.  I cut a 4" strip the WOF.  Folded that in half, opened it back out and folded the edges in to meet the fold line.  Fold again and stitch down both long ends turning in the short ends and stitching those closed.

Now for the ruffles.  This is not rocket science, so no worries about getting these perfect.  We wanted the ruffle on the bottom slightly larger than the other two.  

Here are my pieces.  I cut the pink polka dot at 3.5" X WOF and the other two 3" X WOF.  2 strips of each, but I wound up only needing one.

I hemmed the long edges using a rolled hem on my sewing machine because my serger is in the shop.

I tried ruffling the pink and purple together, but it wasn't as full as I wanted. You can see the pink isn't as full.

So I took it apart and ruffled them separately.  I used my ruffler foot, but you can easily do this with a gathering stitch.  I ran it right on top of my stitch line of my hem.  We didn't want any length added to the jeans, so I only dropped the ruffle down 1/2" below the hem line of the jeans.  I pinned the ruffle in place.

When you get back to the first pin, overlap the ruffle by 1/4" and mark with a pin.

Take it off and to the machine and stitch a 1/4" seam at the pin mark. I pinned it here to show you.

I used my pinking blade to trim the seam.

And it should look like this now.

Pin this back to your jeans legs and use a basting stitch to attach.  **Note.  I put a piece of tape on my machine and lined up the hem line of the jeans to be sure the ruffle was stitched on straight.  If the ruffle 

And here it is stitched on.

Repeat the same procedure with your next ruffle. I aligned it on the same seam so the seams would be stacked.  I used a basting stitch again.

You can see them better here.

Now stitch it along the ruffled stitched line.  I still used my tape as a guide.

This is why I say no need to worry about exact measurements.  I have a smidge extra width on my purple ruffle.  See where my finger is poking through?  That's roughly 1/2" too much.

 To fix it, I simply pinched the excess.

 And folded it toward the seam (toward me).  Stitch right over it.

 It just blends right in.

 Now it's time for the last ruffle.  I ran my ruffle stitch line right down the middle of this last piece.  I wanted to be able to move it just above the first two ruffles to hide the seams.

 I used the same procedure for attaching this ruffle.  Line up the ruffle stitch line right on top of the previous stitch line.  Sew it on the ruffle stitch line (right down the middle of the top ruffle).

 Lift the ruffle edge just to be sure you are covering the other ruffles.  You also want to be sure to catch the other two ruffles on this stitch line since they were only basted.  This last stitch line will secure all of them.

 And now stand back and admire your new ruffles.

And I thought I'd give you a modeled picture.  Isn't she adorable??

Happy Birthday Emma!

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to ask any questions especially if I haven't made something clear.  

Angela