Rufflelier: A Tutorial

The Rufflelier is perfect for a little girl's room, playroom or for an outside tea party! It is so easy, inexpensive and quick to make. I think it took me 15 minutes to put together.

Supplies: poster board, coordinating fabrics (you will need a total of 8 x 60 inches of fabric for all 4 pieces), hot glue gun, thread, 4 pearl strands 23-25 inches in length (I used some necklaces that had broken) sewing machine, stapler, pencil

Cut two pieces of poster board that will total 8 x 42 inches (two pieces 8 x 21 inches). I allowed for a one inch overlap on each side. Staple the two pieces together. You will have a circle that is the "skeleton" for your rufflelier.

Cut strips of fabric totaling 2 x 60 inches. I was using a fat quarter so I cut 3 strips. Repeat 3 times with the same fabric or coordinating fabric. If you want a tighter ruffle make your strips longer (2 x 80).

Sew rights sides together so you now have one long strip 2 x 60 inches in length. Repeat for the other strips. I left my strips "raw" on the edges, but you could serge them or hem them. If you want to hem them you would want to allow for a wider strip. instead of 2 inches you might do 2 1/2 inches.

Now sew a gathering stitch down the middle of the stip. Your machine should ruffle it a little.

Repeat for the other strips. Pull the ruffle until it's gathered to your liking. Not too much or it will be too short:)

You are ready to glue on your ruffles. I laid them out like I wanted time before I glued them onto the poster board.

Glue, glue, glue and glue

Now for the pearls...Mark with your pencil 4 dots 10 inches apart and about 1/2 inch from the top. The ruffle will cover the hole. You can use a hole punch if it's not too large. I couldn't find my hole punch so I just used my scissors and twisted them back and forth until I had the hole size that I wanted. Then I stuck one pearl from the strand into the hole and reinforced it using the hot glue gun. I connected the pearls by interlocking them with one another. I like how I had a little extra at the end to hang over.

Lastly I attached a string to the pearls to hang from the tree.

Hang it and LOVE it!

Those you love will love it too! It was a great addition to our tRuffles and tEa party.

If you have any questions please email me. I would love to see your versions!

sarahmlboyd (at) yahoo (dot) com