Ruched Skirt Sewing Tutorial
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Hello everyone! It's been about two weeks since my last post so today i'll be giving you the tutorial on how I made this super cute and sexy ruched skirt! Similar to my last skirt tutorial, this one is an underbust skirt, but with a whole different vibe.
I wore this to the Sydney Gal Meet, and it was so comfortable and really flattering. I must say, the ruching really emphasises the body shape and is a good way to add texture to an outfit.
I was inspired to make this skirt by an Ageha 11/09 scan I saw on Pinterest. I've been wanting to make this since before I became a gyaru!
It's the skirt worn in the top left, I think I copied it quite well, but because my fabric was on the lighter side, it doesn't have as intense ruching, but if you wanted to have really intense ruching, you could multiply your pattern length by 2.5 instead of 2, but we can get into that later in the tutorial.
This project is super easy to do, even though you make your own pattern (don't worry, it's super easy), it's just working with stretch fabric that makes it take a while. An intermediate sewer could probably knock this out in 2-3 hours. (I took about double, though, as I had to figure out how to make the pattern from scratch and was accidentally using denim needles instead of stretch needles...)
Difficulty: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ - Confident beginner
Materials required
- Jersey stretch fabric (Any 4-way stretch around 180-200gsm will work)
- Sewing machine (preferably equipped with a stretch needle)
- 2.5cm width waistband elastic with a length 4cm shorter than your underbust measurement
- 1metre of 1.25cm width elastic
- Overlocker (optional)
- Scissors
- High-quality thread (your thread WILL snap if you use poor thread.)
- Twin needles (optional
Part 1: Drafting the pattern
- Measure your underbust, waist, hips and around both of your thighs
- Waist: W
- Hips: H
- Thigh width: T - It is important to note that this is not the circumference of your thigh, just the measurement you get when you wrap the measuring tape around both your thighs together where you want the skirt to finish.
- Then, measure the distance from your underbust to waist, waist to hip, hip to thigh and total length of the skirt.
- Underbust to waist: UBW
- Waist to hip: WH
- Hip to thigh: HT
- Skirt length: SL
- Quarter your underbust measurement, then mark it at the top of the page
- To calculate how much allowance you’ll need for the waistband, double the width of your elastic and add one centimetre. My elastic was 2.5cm (1”), so 2x2.5+1 = 6
- Duplicate the line you made before, but 6cm below the previous one
- The distance of your UBW below the underbust line, make a horizontal line 1/4 of your waist measurement
- Your WH measurement below the waist line, make a line 1/4 of your hip measurement
- Your HT measurement below the hip line, make a line 1/4 of your thigh measurement
- Using a french curve ruler (mine is just layers of cardstock glued together with a template printed from the internent) connect all the lines together.
- Do not add seam allowance!! We want the skirt to be tight~ So when we do sew, there is just a little less space than we need and the fabric will stretch to fit our body nicely.
- Cut out your pattern!
Part 2: Cutting pattern and fabric- Lay out your pattern
- Make a line where your waistband will be
- Begin marking horizontal lines one inch apart around the waist, where there are more dramatic curves
- On the rest of the pattern, make lines two inches apart
- I numbered mine first, then cut out each piece
- Fold over the fabric you are going to cut the pattern on
- Begin pinning pattern pieces on the folded edge of the fabric. Two-inch pieces should be two inches apart; one-inch pieces should be one inch apart. Where there are one-inch and two-inch parts next to each other, leave a two inch gap
- Measure how long this arrangement is, it should be pretty close to double your desired skirt length, give or take.
- Cut around the pattern pieces, doing your best to blend the shape as you cut, since the parts aren't perfectly aligned anymore
- Keeping the cut fabric folded, place the cut fabric on the fold of your main fabric, and duplicate the piece
- Once you unfold it, the two pieces will resemble a dress
Part 3: Sewing the skirt
- Seam up the sides of the skirt using a zigzag stitch and 15mm seam allowance (Yes, even though we didn't add any to our pattern, this makes it fit our bodies tight, remember?)
- If you can, overlock the edges, but it's not wholly necessary, as knit fabrics don't fray
- Overlock around the bottom and top edges (Not together, there should still be openings!)
- Fold up the bottom of the skirt 1cm on the inside and either twin needle or zigzag to create a hem.
- Cut two pieces of elastic that are your skirt's desired length. I cut 47cm of length. I used half inch elastic, and I wouldn't recommend using 1/4 inch elastic because it is not stretchy enough and does not have enough resilience, but I wouldn't use 1 inch elastic either as it would be too bulky.
- Mark 6cm from the top (or however much allowance you made for your waistband)
Set your machine to a zigzag stitch, and place your 1/2 inch elastic on the seam allowance of the skirt, below where you have marked, backstitching to secure. 
- Stretch the fabric as you sew to create gathers that are our ruching, be sure not to stretch the fabric as you go.
- Once you reach the end, backstitch and repeat on the other side of the skirt.
- Get your inch-wide waistband elastic, and sew the ends together so that it makes a loop.
- Fold over the top of the skirt so that it can encase the elastic, Since my elastic is 2.5cm wide, I folded the edge over 3cm.
- Tuck the elastic under the fold, sewing the edge down with a small zigzag stitch or twin needle to fully encase it
- All finished!!
As always, if you do make this, I would LOVE to see what you make, so tag me on TikTok - @minanyanya, or on Instagram - @me.minanyanya. If parts of this tutorial don't make sense, be sure to comment and let me know!
- Waist: W
- Hips: H
- Thigh width: T - It is important to note that this is not the circumference of your thigh, just the measurement you get when you wrap the measuring tape around both your thighs together where you want the skirt to finish.
- Underbust to waist: UBW
- Waist to hip: WH
- Hip to thigh: HT
- Skirt length: SL
- Lay out your pattern
- Make a line where your waistband will be
- Begin marking horizontal lines one inch apart around the waist, where there are more dramatic curves
- On the rest of the pattern, make lines two inches apart
- I numbered mine first, then cut out each piece
- Fold over the fabric you are going to cut the pattern on
- Begin pinning pattern pieces on the folded edge of the fabric. Two-inch pieces should be two inches apart; one-inch pieces should be one inch apart. Where there are one-inch and two-inch parts next to each other, leave a two inch gap
- Measure how long this arrangement is, it should be pretty close to double your desired skirt length, give or take.
- Cut around the pattern pieces, doing your best to blend the shape as you cut, since the parts aren't perfectly aligned anymore
- Keeping the cut fabric folded, place the cut fabric on the fold of your main fabric, and duplicate the piece
- Once you unfold it, the two pieces will resemble a dress
Part 3: Sewing the skirt
- Seam up the sides of the skirt using a zigzag stitch and 15mm seam allowance (Yes, even though we didn't add any to our pattern, this makes it fit our bodies tight, remember?)
- If you can, overlock the edges, but it's not wholly necessary, as knit fabrics don't fray
- Overlock around the bottom and top edges (Not together, there should still be openings!)
- Fold up the bottom of the skirt 1cm on the inside and either twin needle or zigzag to create a hem.
- Cut two pieces of elastic that are your skirt's desired length. I cut 47cm of length. I used half inch elastic, and I wouldn't recommend using 1/4 inch elastic because it is not stretchy enough and does not have enough resilience, but I wouldn't use 1 inch elastic either as it would be too bulky.
- Mark 6cm from the top (or however much allowance you made for your waistband)
- Set your machine to a zigzag stitch, and place your 1/2 inch elastic on the seam allowance of the skirt, below where you have marked, backstitching to secure.
- Stretch the fabric as you sew to create gathers that are our ruching, be sure not to stretch the fabric as you go.
- Once you reach the end, backstitch and repeat on the other side of the skirt.
- Get your inch-wide waistband elastic, and sew the ends together so that it makes a loop.
- Fold over the top of the skirt so that it can encase the elastic, Since my elastic is 2.5cm wide, I folded the edge over 3cm.
- Tuck the elastic under the fold, sewing the edge down with a small zigzag stitch or twin needle to fully encase it
- All finished!!
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