Sewing Tutorial: How to add ruffles to your favorite top

This tutorial will show you how to add ruffles to your favorite top. I loved the look of the ruffle on Named Clothing's Saraste Top from their Breaking the Pattern book and wanted to add it to my favorite tank top. And now you can, too! ✨

Note: This tutorial originally appeared in a github gist.

Disclaimer

This is my first tutorial! I am not a professional patternmaker, just a sewing hobbyist. If you have comments, questions, feedback, or anything, you can:

  1. email me at jessicalaurenchong [at] gmail.com, or
  1. or DM me at @crocophant.makes! :) I'm still learning as I go. We can learn together!
Related reading

When I first made this top, I found the following to be essential resources:

  1. Breaking the Pattern by Saara & Laura Huhta of Named Clothing.
Materials
  1. The pattern pieces for the front and back bodice pieces of your favorite tank top
  1. Pattern paper (parchment paper, tracing paper, Ikea drawing paper, letter paper taped together...)
  1. Ruler, pen/pencil, fabric marking tool, scissors
  1. Fabric
Part 1: Prepare the bodice pieces (Slice and Dice 'em ✂️)
  1. Make a copy of the front and back bodice pieces of your favorite tank top. I used the Grainline Willow tank, hacked to my liking.¹
  1. On the front bodice, draw a line through the shoulder seam down to the hem. If your pattern has darts, make sure that this line you leave plenty of room between your line and the dart, neck seamline, and armhole seamline. I left an inch between the dart point and my line. It's kind of like playing frogger with seamlines. 🐸
  1. Repeat with the back bodice piece: draw a line from the shoulder seam down to the hem. Again, leave room between your line and the seamlines.
  1. Where you drew the new lines, add a 1/2" seam allowance. Even if your pattern has a different seam allowance, you'll want at least 1/2" because you'll be sandwiching a lot of fabric together. This will give you some margin for error.
  1. Draw a mark where you want the ruffle to start/end. I chose a point 2" above my belly button. Measure the length between this point and the top of the shoulder, and subtract the shoulder seam allowance. This will be the final length of your ruffle. Mine was 14". To make your life easier later on, I'd also recommend marking halfway between the ruffle end and the shoulder seam. This will help you distribute the gathers when you assemble everything.
  1. Cut your fabric. Transfer markings.
  1. ⚠️ Very important! ⚠️ Staystitch the edges, especially if they were cut off grain (i.e. diagonally). This will prevent the fabric from getting stretched/distorted as you handle it. If you don't do this, your fabric WILL get distorted! Consider yourself warned 😈
  1. Sew the bust darts, if any.
  1. Sew the shoulder seams on the front side pieces, front center piece, back side pieces, and back center piece.
Part 2: Make your ruffle 💃🏻

I based the proportions of my ruffle on the Saraste Top (#sarastetop) in Named Clothing's Breaking the Pattern book. I liked that it starts narrow at the bottom, and accentuates and exaggerates the width of one's shoulders. Feel free to play around with the proportions and shape.

  1. Draft the ruffle piece. You're going to use this to cut out 4 pieces of fabric.
  • On a (long) piece of paper, draw a line 6" wide. This is the top.
  • Draw a line perpendicular to the first line, originating at the center. The length depends on how much body you want your ruffle to have. I took my desired ruffle length, 14", and multiplied it by 2, and drew a line that was 28" long.
  • Draw a line 2" wide. This is the bottom.
  • Connect the ends of the top and bottom lines.
  1. Use the pattern pieces to cut 4 pieces of fabric.
  1. Take a pair of ruffle pieces, and sew them right sides together with a 1/2" seam allowance, at the top. This is the ruffle shoulder seam. Press the seam open. Repeat with the other pair of ruffle pieces.
  1. With right sides together, fold the ruffle in half lengthwise. Sew the short end of the ruffle with a 1/2" seam allowance.
  1. Turn the ruffle so that the right side is out and press. Mark your fabric at the halfway point between the end and the shoulder seam.
  1. On the unfinished edge, set your stitch length to the longest possible and sew 2 (or 3?) rows of gathers. I like this video from Jennifer at Workroom Social.
  1. Gather! Match the shoulder seam on the ruffle to the shoulder seam on the bodice piece, and gather the ruffle to your desired ruffle length). In my case, I gathered such that my ruffle measured 14" from the shoulder seam to the end.
Part 3: Put it all together
  1. Make a sandwich 🥪. Take a side piece and the center piece, and a ruffle. Layer the pieces together, right sides together, matching the shoulder seams. Pin the layers together, using the markings you made earlier to distribute the gathers. This part is super finicky, which is why it was so important to staystitch earlier!
  1. Stitch all three layers together with 1/2" seam allowance.
  1. Finish the seams together with a serger, zigzag stitch, or pinking shears. Press towards the center.
  1. Repeat with the remaining side piece.

After these steps, you will have completed a ruffle bodice, sewn together at the shoulders. Continue sewing the rest of the top (sew the side seams, finish the armholes and neckholes, and hem). Tada, you did it!

Share your work! #putaruffleonit

Did this tutorial help you make the ruffled tank of your dreams? Use the hashtag: #putaruffleonit! 💃🏻

Appendix

¹ Mods I made on my Willow tank:

  1. Redrafted a higher neckline with a French curve
  1. Lowered the arm scye by 1/2"
  1. Cropped by two inches
  1. Made the side seams straighter.

🧵 A Sewing Log was lovingly made and published with Gamma