Ruffled Fabric-how to use it

This is part 2 of the round neck dress. This time instead of piping I used ric rac which was much easier to work with. But first, have you tried using ruffled fabric yet? It is this great fabric that already has ruffles. It comes in all different sizes and colors and is available everywhere including etsy, Hobby Lobby, Ruffled Fabric.com, and ebay which happens to be where I bought mine at a great discount price of just $9/yard.

Ruffled Fabric.com is a little more expensive but it has so many choices. I really love the Buttercup Yellow and White Striped and the Coral Cascading Ruffle. This fabric is super easy to work with because the ruffles make it easy to cut and your don't need to hem the bottom. I have actually had this lilac with brown polka dots in my fabric stash for awhile waiting for the perfect project to use it on.

I wanted to make a dress for Elizabeth that is a little bit more fancy for a few summer weddings we will be attending. I had this beautiful cotton blend flower fabric that my sister in law donated to my collection that went perfectly with the lilac ruffles. So I decided to take the Blackbird Tunic top and changed it up a bit.

As I said before instead of piping I used ric rac all the way around the bottom and top of the circle neckline. And instead of pleats I gathered the top and then I cut it shorter and gathered the bottom. This made a bubble like effect. Then I cut my ruffled fabric in an aline skirt shape and sewed the sides together. Next I sewed some large elastic to the top of the skirt creating a waist line. Finally I sewed the top to the skirt on the elastic piece and covered the elastic with some grosgrain ribbon. I added the bow for some detail and to cover my seam (hehe).



I think it turned out pretty well. Sometimes I get a vision in my head of what I want to make and it doesn't always come out that way. This was one of those cases. The dress isn't exactly as I pictured it but I still like it. Either way I got what I was going for, a dress that is a little less casual than the usual cotton number.

And I still have a ton of ruffled fabric left over to make another skirt for myself or Liz!