Adding a ruffle to a quilt

I am making a crib quilt for DD's first child. The pattern has a ruffle around the outside of the quilt instead of a binding. The directions say to sew the ruffle to the quilt top before quilting and then "birth" the quilt. I don't like the idea of birthing before quilting because I'm afraid I'd end up with puckers and not be happy with the end result.

I'm looking for alternative ways to do the ruffle. One way I'm thinking would work would be to attach the ruffle to the top only, quilt as usual (though not quite to the outer edge), trim the batting to the seam edge, trim the backing, leaving a seam allowance, turn the raw edge of the backing to the inside and stitch it down along the seam where the ruffle was sewn.

The other way I think would work is to quilt first and then baste the ruffle to the top side, stitching through all the layers. Cut a binding strip (1-1/2" wide or so), fold it in half, lay it over the ruffle and stitch it to all the layers. Fold the binding and the ruffle away from the front, and stitch the binding down to the back. The binding would not wrap around the edge, but would simply cover the seam where the ruffle was attached. This would result in a pretty thick edge and I'm not sure that is desirable.

Any comments or other ideas out there?

Julia in MN

Reply to
Julia in MN
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I believe I birthed the one I did. But when you put the backing on top of the quilt you need to make sure the ruffles are folded to the center of the quilt. Then I top stitched all the way around. The ruffle though was harder because this was the first quilt I ever made. So the basting and pulling till I had just the right length and fluffiness was a real pain. It took me four tries and a few days. Being I was new this may not have been the easier or most efficient way to do this. Joanna remove quilt to reply

Reply to
Joanna

I tried the 'ruffle, then birth' method and was so displeased that I turned it back inside-out, cut if off and began again without it. So there. Here's a better way. Let's assume that you want a ruffle that is simply a long tube stitched right sides together and turned. That will give you everything completely encased in the tube with nary an edge to ravel. All you will have to do is gather, attach to the birthed quilt and fiddle a little with the place where the ruffle begins and ends. The coolest way to do the gathering is to zigzag over a length of that heavy nylon fishing line. Adjust the gathers, stitch beside the fishing line to attach the ruffle to the quilt and remove the fishing line. Gathering threads tend to break on heavy ruffles but that nylon stuff for catching a 12-pound fish will not. You would want to practice this way with scraps of something to be sure you understand. Email me if you run into a question. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

I've done the "ruffle, then birth" method and it worked okay for me, but I don't want to birth this one. I'm wondering about alternative methods for finishing the edge so the ruffle seam is enclosed.

I do understand what you mean about how to gather a ruffle; I've used that method with crochet thread, but never with fish line. If I had a ruffler for my machine, I'd use that. But I don't. I like to use my serger for gathering ruffles. I have an Elna with a differential feed. I use a very tight tension on the needle thread(s), set the differential feed to "2", and sew along the edge. I can adjust the gathers if I need to by using the needle thread(s).

Julia > I tried the 'ruffle, then birth' method and was so displeased that I turned

Reply to
Julia in MN

Polly - Love your method for gathering - hadn't heard it before and will definitely give it a try.

One way to have the ruffle sit well on the edge of the quilt is to pleat it. I have done this a couple of times and it looked good. I made a tube as Polly described, then sewed it straight onto the quilt and tucked the frill fabric about every 3/4" as I sewed. This made the edge feel "flatter". A soft wooden pointer helps hold the pleats under the needle (I used a trimmed ice cream stick!) and won't hurt the needle/foot if you get a bit close and catch it. I think I sewed them using my walking foot.

The first time I attached to a quilt I just treated the frill like Prairie Points, but I have never liked the bulk that accumulated at the corners that way.

Reply to
CATS

I've attached it to the right side of the quilt right sides together and then bound the raw edge, turned the binding to the back and hand stitched it.

Linda PATCHogue, NY

Reply to
WitchyStitcher

That's what I was thinking about doing, but wondered if that wouldn't get pretty thick and bulky along the edge.

Julia > I've attached it to the right side of the quilt right sides together

Reply to
Julia in MN

Linda PATCHogue, NY

Reply to
WitchyStitcher

Julia in MN wrote:

Well, you could always buy the ready made stuff. It's a ruffle that has been sandwiched between two layers of bias binding! Do your quilting, trim the raw edges and then serge or zig-zag around the whole thing -- it just make putting the binding on a bit easier. Put the prepared ruffling over the edges of the quilt and machine sew both sides in one pass through the machine. If you want, you can do the whole thing by hand. I know the stuff is available at Joanns and maybe even Wally World (not too sure about that, tho'). Works great and is very easy to do. Alternately, you could make your own using some of your fabric. If you do make your own just remember that you do not need to have any bias cut fabric unless your quilt has curves along the edge or rounded corners. I know a lot of people want to have the binding doubled so you could just make the two sides of the binding double. Cut strips of binding fabric and then fold them in half. Sew the raw edges of one binding to the raw edge of the ruffle. Then do the same with the other binding and seew it to the other side of the ruffle. Now you can sew the ruffled binding to the quilt either by hand or by machine. Again, if you do it by machine and use a pretty decorative stitch or even just a plain zig-zag, you can do the whole thing in one pass! If you make the "back" side of the binding just a hair longer than the front binding, you can machine stitch with a straight stitch and get both sides in one pass. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

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Reply to
Tia Mary

speaking from experience: skip the ruffle. why? as kiddies grow up they find new ways to play with quilts and ruffles are the first to come off making the fixing complicated. I ended up removing the ruffle, ripping the stitches that hadn't come off already and turning the ruffle into a binding.

Reply to
Jessamy

IMO your 1st idea would look tidier. But you could use #2 also and reduce bulk by stitching the binding to the top only (on top of the ruffle). Then trim off the quarter-inch SA of the backing/batting. I also think a thin piping in the ruffle seam would look very spiffy. Roberta in D

"Julia in MN" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:JZ%Ch.41$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe06.lga...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

On Wed, 21 Feb 2007 12:12:27 -0600, Julia in MN wrote (in article ):

When I envisioned this, I was thinking along the lines of your second idea. Quilt, baste on ruffle so the ruffle is facing toward the center of the quilt, then put on a binding in the usual manner. When the binding gets folded to the back the ruffle will fold away from the center.

Maureen

Reply to
Maureen Wozniak

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