I love this new sewing tutorial from Elin Bengtsson (or @elfandy.collection as you might know her on Instagram)! I hope you do too! Elin used my pattern Lo leggings for this.
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Ruffles, ruffles, ruffles. Those who have followed me on Instagram have probably seen that I love ruffles, lace and all things cute. So it's probably not news that I also love leggings with tushie ruffles. They are a fun thing to sew to make basic leggings more detailed.
When you're sewing yourself there are no rights or wrongs, your own imagination is the limit! Imagine a pair of Lo leggings with rainbow-ruffls, wouldn't that be so cool?
But I mostly go for simple and natural colors, so I recently sewed a pair of leggings with ruffles in one of Tygdrömmar's fabric news, Hearts Sand/brown. I took some pictures during the process so now I will, as thoroughly as I can, explain step by step how you too can make Lo leggings with ruffles.
1.
Cut out your leggings pattern pieces as usual, two pieces. Here the two pieces are placed on top of each other.
2.
Now draw a curve from the center of the top edge towards the back rise, all the way to the crotch, according to the picture. You will be cutting off this part.
Still, the two leggings pieces are placed on top of each other. So when you cut off the part that you drew, you will cut in two layers.
3.
Use the two cut off pieces as a template for cutting out a new, whole, piece. We will call this pattern piece the "ruffle tushie".
4.
Time to cut fabric strips! I think it's best with 4 strips in total. Use your creativity! For these leggings I will use 2 fabric strips and 2 lace strips.
Calculate the length of the strips by measuring the width of the ruffle tushie.
Multiply that by 1,8. In my case it's 26,5 cm x 1,8 = approx. 48 cm.
The width of the strips can be approx. 6 cm. I sewed my fabric strips' edges with a rolled hem so I don't need to add seam allowance. If you hem by any other method, remember to add seam allowance if you need it.
You can sew a rolled hem on a serger, but also with a regular sewing machine and zig zag stitch with very low stitch length.
5.
Now you should gather the fabric/lace strips along their length. I think the best way to do this is to use clear elastic (for example Framilon tape) or other elastic approx. 5-10 mm wide (mine is 5 mm).
Cut 4 pieces of elastic that are as long as the width of the tushie ruffle.
6.
Sew the elastic to the wrong side of the strips approx. 2 cm down from their top edge. You will need to stretch the elastic as you're sewing it. This might feel hard at first but with practice you'll find that it's so fast and really neat.
First, secure the elastic to the fabric strip with a few stitches before you stretch it. Then sew using elastic straight stitch.
A tip is to always keep the needle down in the fabric if you need to pause, so the fabric strip stays in place when you stretch the elastic.
If you want to gather without elastic or framilon tape: sew two parallell gathering stitches (straight stitch with the longest stitch length) and then pull the bobbin threads to make fabric gather.
The ruffles are done! Let's attach them to the tushie.
7.
Mark how high up your first fabric/lace strip should start. If you first mark where the waist elastic will end you can go from there.
Pin the ruffle and sew with elastic straight stitch.
Then continue with the rest of the ruffles. My 6 cm wide ruffles are placed 1 cm below the seam of the previous ruffle.
8.
The tushie ruffle is all done!
Now let's attach it to the leggings. Be careful and make sure that the ruffles don't fold upwards when you attach the tushie ruffle to the leggings. If you want to you can sew a basting stitch to temporarily keep them in place before attaching this piece to the leggings.
Pin from edge to edge and sew.
Now continue sewing your Lo leggings as usual.
All done!
