easy ruffle skirts for summer

Can’t help it. This sunny weather makes me want to sew skirts and sweetie loves to wear them. Unfortunately, she doesn’t like to pose for pictures so a little M&M bribe was in order. I am in love with this free Oliver + S tutorial. It is so easy to follow and really quick to whip up. I decided to make it a bit more frou frou by adding some fun ruffles.

Basic Ruffle Instructions
Before adding the elastic waist to the skirt, I marked the skirt in 1 ½ inch intervals to help me see where to sew on my ruffles. I then took a contrasting fabric and cut them into 1 ½ inch pieces, selvage to selvage (about 44 inches). You need about two of these pieces per ruffle tier on your skirt. I then used my serger to finish the edges of my ruffles so they won’t fray. If you like the frayed look you may want to skip this step. If you don't have a serger, you can either zig zag or overcast stitch your ruffle pieces with your sewing machine.

Next, using my sewing machine and some tweezers, I scrunched up the ruffles as I sewed them down to the skirt using my marked lines. (This keeps your fingers out from under the needle!) Once the ruffles were on, I added the elastic. I made this skirt a little big for my girl because I want her to be able to wear it longer than a month—kids grow so fast!


Inspired by this tutorial from Pink Picket Fence, I decided to make a similar skirt using tulle. I cut my tulle pieces a little wider and I layered them for a fuller look. Again, I just scrunched up the tulle as I went. I love how full this skirt is. Either of these skirts would be super cool for bigger girls and adults, too!