Burda Style For people who sew

Today, I’m going to show you many many types of ruffles. Ruffle variety is nearly endless, and, as a design element, they can say anything from ‘sweet and fun’ to ‘classic and strong.’ Being armed with a vast repertoire of ruffle variations allows you creative freedom to always choose the perfect one for any garment. Your ruffle choice may depend on how much flow/fullness/buoyancy/discretion you want, or how much fabric and/or time you have. Keep the ratio of gathering in mind when experimenting with ruffles; this will help you cut the right lengths for the desired fullness when making your final pieces. I’m also going to show different ways to finish the edges of your ruffles.

Technique Materials

basic sewing supplies.

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10 Comments Sign in to add a post

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  Jul 21, 2009, 08.24 PMby corinneski

  Love the tutorial – just what I wanted.

  Waterfall style ruffles are all the go this coming Spring season in Australia especially the sort that are folded like pleats. Anyone know whether you need to join lengths of circles together to be able to pleat the ruffle?
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  May 27, 2009, 11.28 PMby carlottam

  Great tutorial, I was precisely wondering what was the exact difference both for sewing and in effect between all the sorts of ruffles!

  I had learned to make a sort of circle ruffles too, but the lady who taught me usually makes a spiral to waste the less fabric possible. A circle seems easier to draw, however… I had never thought of using the fancy stiches of my machine for ruffles, too. Thank you for the idea!
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  May 26, 2009, 02.31 PMby me2

  Great tutorial. I was looking for a sure fire way to gather ruffles. I have trouble with these basting threads breaking when I pull them to make the gathers. So I have resorted to zig-zag stitching over dental floss. Then I pull the dental floss to make the gathers. The dental floss is cheap, lies flat and does not break. An other ideas?
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  May 24, 2009, 11.07 AMby hausmaus

  Ooooooh, ruffles! Thank you guys so much, I love ruffles and try to encorporate them into any project I sew :)
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  May 23, 2009, 10.28 AMby effervescence

  Great how to!!!!
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  May 22, 2009, 08.46 AMby scormeny

  This is so timely! I’m in the process of creating a tiered skirt, and have been messing around with the ruffle foot that I bought for my Bernina recently.

  Thanks for all the great pix and guidelines.
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  May 22, 2009, 05.46 AMby ghainskom

  Thank you BS for this nice ruffles overview!
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  May 21, 2009, 02.37 PMby trolldoll

  I absolutley love ruffles, frills, flounces, all that good stuff.And i completley agree-i cant get enough circular ruffles!they are just so cool.thanks for the great how to.
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  May 21, 2009, 10.42 AMby cam557

  Thanks! This is really helpful!
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  May 21, 2009, 10.39 AMby camilaustral

  i love circle ruffles too! they look very elegant.

  great how-to!