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20 Minute Ruffle Dress

This is seriously the easiest dress I have EVER made! It is right up there next to circle skirts.

After seeing the re-purposed T-Shirt into Ruffly dress by Make It & Love It (which has also made it onto my never ending to-do list), she brought to my attention an amazing product I never knew existed…PRE-RUFFLED FABRIC!!!

She is my new BFF 4Eva…lol. This great Ruffle Fabric shop has an amazing assortment of ruffled fabrics in all sorts of vibrant colors! And any of you who know me, know that my daughters LOVE anything girly, frilly, and fabulous! I immediately purchased a couple of yards.

Making the 20 Minute Ruffle Dress is easy. All you need is a yard of ruffle fabric (probably less – like 3/4 yard), and a sleeveless dress or shirt pattern. I used the bodice pattern pieces from The Cottage Mama’s Party Dress since it was readily available in my pattern pile. You can find that HERE if you need one.

Laying the bodice pattern pieces down on the fabric, with BOTH of them on the fold, I cut out the top and arced out to my desired length.

Then with right sides together, I sewed up the side seams and shoulder seams. Turned the dress right side out, folding down the raw edge neck line and armholes, and zig zag stiched them inside.

And voila, you are finished! It is that simple! I didn’t have a belt to embellish with, so I used a scrap piece of brown knit fabric I had lying around and simply made a belted tube with it to slip over the dress.

The possibilities are endless with this fabric, it is FABULOUS! Try making a ruffle skirt in no time by just adding an elastic waistband. Or make this dress and add some ruffled rosettes around the waistband. People will think you spent a fortune!

I am in love. Next up…a pink ruffle dress for my other daughter, naturally.

This dress has been featured at:

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Comments

  8. Hi, I am visiting from Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, great dress. I just made a ruffle skirt, but now I might have to try this with the left overs. I don’t think my little one will ever wear ruffles again…once she can decided.

    Reply

  11. Funny, I’ve had a very similar idea floating around in my head! like a cute shift/flapper-ish dress.
    Love how yours turned out. cute!

    Reply

  16. OMGEEEE! i just bought this exact fabric (color and all) while on Vacay in LA over the holidays. I was thinking i would make a cute little dress and by George you’ve done it and provided the blue print. Thanks a bunch i will be happily sewing this weekend!

    Reply

  32. Oh my gosh this is so darn cute and so easy!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing! I am a sucker for ruffles! I can’t wait to make one for my daughther and I think I will make one for myself as well!!

    I am a new follower to your blog and I’d love it if you’d check out mine as well!

    xoxo
    Kelli @ loveoursimplelife.blogspot.com

    Reply

  34. Love it! I am totally jealous and I want that dress for myself. HA! You have inspired me to look for more ruffly fabrics. I also featured your lil’ dress on my weekly wrap up. Feel free to stop by and grab my button.

    Halsey

    Reply

  42. This is amazing, I’m going to see if I can get some of this ruffled fabric in the UK. I’ve started my first ever blog as a crafting mummy from the UK so will add you to my list of inspiring blogs, feel free to pop over for a look.

    Reply

  43. I’m new to sewing and obsessively look at blogs to learn and be inspired. I never knew there was preruffled fabric. It’s genius! So I dragged my husband to the LA garment district (25 min drive) and found this magical fabric in every color imaginable and prints too! Even better only $8 a yard! Can’t wait to use it!

    Reply

  45. I have just spent the last 40 min drooling over your site. I love all the dresses and I don’t even know where to start as far as making them for my own daughter.

    Such inspiration! I’m your newest follower!

    Thanks!
    Jonie
    easyascutandpaste.blogspot.com

    Reply

  46. Hi Jessica! Thanks for including our button 🙂 Would you be interested in publishing your tutorials on FaveCrafts? Email me if you’re interested 🙂 I LOVE your designs!!

    Reply

  50. Thanks for this idea and tutorial! I just whipped up a beautiful silver/gray flower girl dress for my daughter based on this. So simple and such a wow factor! Thanks again!

    Reply

  52. I was following your directions here, but when I zigzag sewed around the top of the dress, it stretched out the neckline. Did that happen to you? How do I get that to not happen?

    Reply

    • I am sorry to hear that Nadane! When sewing with knits, you have to be really careful not to stretch the fabric when it is going through the machine – or you can end up with a wavy hem.

      The only way I can think of to salvage your dress would be to add a knit bias around the neckline to cover it up. Use knit fabric and make bias tape out of it. There is a very good tutorial for how to sew knit bias found here:
      http://www.ikatbag.com/2011/08/racerback-summer-dress-part-2-binding.html

      Depending on how wavy your neckline turned out, you may have to sew a very small line of gathering stitches to bring it back in…but be careful doing that – as you want to be sure you can still fit the neckline over the head when putting on the dress!

      Sewing with knits has been a learning process for me. And I have learned they can be tricky. Zig Zag stitches are great when I use them, as it allows the knit to keep its stretch – and as I mentioned before – allowing for very little or no stretching of fabric as it moves through the machine.

      I am sorry this happened to you, please know you are not alone. The first few times I worked with knits I had to completely throw the projects away! And it still happens to me from time to time. If you are just now learning, I recommend working with interlock knits. The stretch is only in one direction – but it is a thicker fabric, and much easier to work with. By far my favorite knit!!!

      I do hope you are able to fix it, please let me know!

      Reply

  53. Wow, thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I was also thinking of a bias to cover it up but it’s pretty stretched out so I might just start over 🙁 Thank you so much for the tips. I’ll let you know how I make out! Your dress is so cute, by the way!

    Reply

  54. Awesome! I have some purple ruffled fabric I wasn’t sure what to do with, and now I know what I’ll do….my granddaughter loves purple and dresses, so I’ll make her one for Easter. Thanks for sharing!!

    Reply

  55. I am so excited to start this project! I love it!

    One question though. On your little girl did you use the mini ruffle fabric? or the 2 inch ruffle fabric?

    Thanks!!!

    Reply

  56. I made a romper out of this fabric. It is cute, but SO hard to make sure the ruffles stay in line. I found I had to pin a lot. Just be sure to give it a good shake in the direction you want the ruffles to fall before you pin!

    Reply

  57. i just made one!!! It was so easy. Only thing is i think it need a lining next time. its kinda sheer. I didnt even zip the neck or the arm holes, I just cut it all even.. thank you for the tutorial

    Reply

  59. So funny! I bought the fabric BEFORE I saw this post! Saw it at the fabric store and knew I wanted ot make a cute dress, I just didn’t know what kinf of design. Perfect pattern for a newbie like me! I had the same issue as mollyjotx. My ruffles kept flippig up and getting caught in my stiching. I ended up having to pin the bottom of every ruffle, but the end result was super cute! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  60. I need to make 4 dress for an outside wedding in brown The dress pic she found is in taupe.would I use 1in or 2in ruffles. sash colors is orange,burn red,yellow,bronze. Thanks

    Reply

  61. Hi, i love this dress but I’m struggling with the neck and the arm hole zig zag stitch. Can you offer more advice?

    Reply

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    Reply

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  65. Hey since you’ve probably washed that dress a few times since you wrote this, how did the ruffles stand up to washing? My sister sewed a dress from this fabric and the ruffles got all fuzzy and nasty when she washed it! 🙁

    Reply

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