The Ruffled Bubble Skirt Tutorial

Isn’t she cute?!  She could really make anything look good:).

It is so fun to find coordinating fabrics, don’t you think?  The flower fabric is Modern Grace by Windham Fabrics, and the polka dots are Moda’s Free Bird Eggs.

This tutorial is for a skirt about 18 months – 2T, possibly even 3T, but it would just be shorter. Adjust measurements according to your child.

What You’ll Need:

-Two lining pieces:  one measuring 30” x 13”, one measuring 30” x 11”

-30” x 13” patterned fabric for upper part of skirt, referred to as main patterned fabric

-Two strips of fabric, measuring 4” x 44”.  If you want even more ruffles, just make the strips longer.

-18” elastic, 3/4” wide

-ribbon for bows (not pictured)

Take the larger lining piece and along one of the long edges, fold up 1/4”, then another 1/2” and sew.  This  is the bottom of the skirt.

Take the strips for the ruffles. Fold over one of the long edges and fold over again.  Iron and sew.

Fold the other edge over about 1/4” and sew two basting stitches—I would actually use some thread that matches better here. Between the basting stitches and sewing it onto the skirt, I feel like that is enough stitching to keep the raw edge contained.  If you don’t like unfinished edges, then you can serge or zig-zag.  Really, I’ve not done many ruffles with cotton fabric, so there could very possibly be a better way to do them!

 

Gather by pulling on the two basting stitches.  Repeat these steps with the other strip of fabric.  You are wanting the strip to end up 30” long.

Take the side of the lining that you hemmed.  Mark two lines 3/4” and 2″ from bottom.

Sew one ruffle following the bottom line.

See all those basting stitches?  Don’t worry—everything will be covered up! 

Sew the other ruffle on following the other line.

Take the smaller lining and the main patterned fabric.  Line up one of the long sides and sew 1/4” seam.

Pull down the lining so that the other long edge matches.  Sew 1/4” from edge.  Pull the top fabric down so that the extra fabric is along the bottom (that won’t matter if your fabric has no direction!).  

Iron the top edge—the side without the extra patterned fabric hanging down.  So iron it like a normal seam you are about to topstitch.

Mark a line from the top of the lining (with ruffles) 2.5” down.  Sew the main patterned piece on that line.

This is what it should look like now.

Line up the side edges with right sides together.

Sew all the layers together up to the point about where my finger is pointing to, using about a 1/4” seam.

Open the skirt like this and fold back the top layers of the main patterned fabric so that you aren’t sewing them all together anymore.  Continue sewing the rest of the inner layer together on the side.

Line up right sides of the main patterned fabric layers and sew.

Zig-zag stitch or serge the unfinished edges.

See where I’m pointing?  That’s the point where all the layers are sewed together and where the separation begins.

OK, decide where you’d like to have the gathers for the top layer.  You can do them centered like I did with this version, or you can do it so the poof is centered, as pictured at the top of this post.  So fold in half, then in half again and mark those four points.

OK, ready for the fun part?  You are going to fold the fabric like an accordion.  Here’s how:  Take one of the points you marked and fold up the fabric to the point you sewed.

Then flip under.

Flip over.

And flip under again, so you now have 3 folds.

You can use your machine to sew, but I prefer to hand-sew this part.  Take your needle and thread and start by pushing needle in from the lining, so the ends of the thread are underneath the folds.

Sew right through all three layers, stitching a few times through.

Tie a knot and repeat with the other 3 points.

Sew the casing for the elastic by folding edge down 1/4” and then again 1”.  Leave an opening for the elastic.

Thread elastic through and zig-zag stitch together.  Sew the casing closed.

We want our little poofs to stay similar to this.  I like to open the folds to look like this and iron by just placing the iron straight down.

You could even make a couple small stitches where my thumb and finger are, to keep the folds open.

Take your ribbon and make four bows.  Treat edges with fray check.

Sew onto the folds.

And that’s it!  Let me know if you have any questions or if something is unclear!