Ruffled Toddler Skirt-a tutorial

Emma is one of my princesses. And she loves to dress like one. She loves dresses and crowns and head bows. I had made her a simple skirt a while back, and since she loved it so much, have been wanting to make her another one. I finally got around to it, and here is the result:

To make this skirt I used:
1 pair of jeans that still fit her around, but were too short
1/3 yard of fabric (lavender with flowers)
scissors (of course)
matching thread
a cutting mat and rotary cutter
pins would be helpful, but I didn't use them

To start out with, take the jeans and cut the legs off just above the crotch, folding the first cut-off leg over to match up with the next.
Next cut the fabric lengthwise in 7.5 and 4.5 inch strips, which will form the ruffles.

Then match the salvage ends of each strip and sew it so it formed a circle.

Then make a narrow hem (about 1/4 inch) on each strip.


Place the shorter strip/circle inside the wider (matching the seams) and baste them together. (You may want to pin them together before sewing.)


Then baste again, 1/8 inch in, so you can gather the ruffles. (I did this twice in case a thread broke.)


With right sides together and matching the back seam on the jeans with the seams on the ruffles, adjust the gathers to match and sew them together, just in from the gathered threads. (This is one place where you may want to pin the fabric to the jeans.)



Then either serge or zigzag on the outer edge to make it more secure and neat.

If you have any questions, let me know.
Happy sewing!


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