Rainbow Ruffle Skirt Tutorial

I made this rainbow ruffle skirt for Kenzie’s upcoming rainbow birthday party. To those real sewers out there, this tutorial is probably the most ridiculous thing you have ever seen. I, on the other hand, don’t really sew. I try and fake through it when I have an idea. I’ve never taken a sewing class, and I didn’t grow up around sewing. So, the way I fumble through this project is probably really weird. That said, I am so excited about the outcome, so I had to pass it along as a tutorial. Perhaps you are like me and have no idea how to follow a pattern. Maybe you think, like I do, that because you watch “Project Runway” you are perfectly qualified to try your hand at creating something on your sewing machine. I have tried to do all activities on this blog with my kids. Because I’m not a sewer, this was definitely a nap time activity for me. All that said, let’s get to it.

First, I bought a little jersey shirt at a second hand store. The skirt was nine inches in length, and I wanted six tiers, so I drew lines on the skirt 1.5 inches apart. This would be where I wanted to sew the top of each tier. I drew these lines on the front and back with a pencil. Then, I deconstructed the skirt.

I had picked out these “Fabric Quarters” in the quilting section of JoAnn Fabrics. I cut them into strips. I measured across the length of the entire skirt and for the first red tier I did 1.5x the length I needed (since it was a thinner part of the skirt). The other strips were measured out 2x the length. I allowed the extra length because I wanted to create the ruffle look by bunching the fabric…a technique I will teach soon and that I learned while trying to make puffed sleeves on a Halloween costume this last year.

Because the fabric was not long enough, I first had to sew two pieces together to determine the total length (again 1.5x to 2.0x the length of the skirt). Next I folded over the sides of the strips to give me a 2.25 inch tier (so it was 2.25 + the seam allowance on both sides when I originally cut). I chose that because you’ll remember that my spacing was 1.5 inches apart, and I wanted one to tier to drape over the next tier rather than line up perfectly.

One of the ironed sides I sewed with a 2.5 stitch length (like normal, knotting both ends). The other side, I changed the stitch length to 4.5. Make sure not to knot or back stitch the ends. Once you sew across that hem, you take the bottom thread and begin to pull. Pulling starts to bunch the fabric up and create that ruffle. I did this for every color.

One by one, I pinned a layer in place, stretching out the top to the side and following the lines I had drawn on the under skirt. I then (back on 2.5 stitch length) sewed the tier to the skirt. I continued until all the layers were done. I’m starting to get pretty excited at this point because it was actually working.

The final steps included folding the skirt in half (inside out) and sewing the seam together. I wish I had lined up my color strips a little more carefully. Then, I attached the top elastic waste band (that I took off the original skirt) with a lot of pins. I just wanted to make sure it was all lined up well on that break between the band and the red tier. I sewed it on and the skirt was done. So, there you have it. My first sewing tutorial. I probably fumbled through the tutorial as much as I fumbled through the project. I do hope it all made sense to anyone inspired to give it a go.

Rainbow Ruffle Skirt Tutorial

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