Tuesday, May 28, 2013

How To Add A Ruffle To The Edge Of A Quilt

 My friend Vickie recently shared with me
her technique for 
adding a ruffle to the edge of a quilt.
 Very simple to do
and another fun way to edge a quilt
rather than using the traditional binding method.
Pattern:
by Threaded Pear
 First, determine the size of the ruffle.
Vickie's ruffle was about 3-inches wide.
She cut a 6-inch width and then folded in half.
For the length,
measure around the outside of the quilt and then
double, allowing for gathers.
Using a pearl cotton
zig zag the thread down using a large stitch
about 1/4th inch from the cut edge of the ruffle.
 A size 5 Pearl Cotton allows
enough strength without breakage for gathering 
a long length of ruffle.
 Once the thread is stitched down,
tug on the end
and gather evenly.
 With an erasable marker,
Vickie had previously drawn  a 
1/2-inch line around the edge of her quilt
as a guide 
so her quilter would not stitch completely to the edge.
Before sewing in the ruffle, 
trim the batting back to the 1/2-inch mark.
 Lay the ruffle around the outside of the quilt,
making sure the gathers are even.
 Once you are happy with the gathers,
flip the ruffle so the raw edges match evenly
against the edge of the top of the quilt.
Pin in place.
Sew down with a scant 1/2-inch seam allowance
to the top only.
Turn the quilt over
and iron the backing down 1/2- inch
to the inside of the quilt.
*Covering the seam line,
stitch down.
*you can either do this by machine or by hand.
Gently press the ruffle around the corners and 
edges and you are done!

4 comments:

Cathy @ CabbageQuilts said...

Great idea Nedra, it looks fabulous! xo

Browndirtcottage said...

Hey thanks for sharing Nedra!! Great idea and looks simply enough to do!!

Cutie patootie pink/yellow quilt.....and the ruffle is the perfect finish!!

Sufala said...

Looks good and easy to do too,Thank you for the idea.

Anonymous said...

I love this edge rather than the bias binding. Thanks for the tutorial so I can do it now.