welcome welcome!
My name is Amy T Schubert – and I blog over at
Lemon and Raspberry.Thanks so much to Amy for opening up this space for me to share my NEW FAVORITE project!
Seriously, I want to put ruffles on everything.
Today, I'm going to show you how to make Ruffled Invitations (I just mailed a bunch of these out for my sister-in-law's bridal shower).
Supplies needed:
paper (cardstock, printed with invitation text, cut to 8"x4")
fabric (9"x1.5" per invitation)
ribbon (1/2" wide, 5" long per invitation)
thread
sewing machine
scissors
stick pins
I made 30 invitations, but you can scale this up or down depending on how many you are making.
(also, I’m not much of a seamstress. As in, I can’t even thread a sewing machine by myself. So if I can do this YOU can do this!)
We'll be making the ruffles first, and then sewing them to the paper with the ribbon.
On each strip of fabric, you need to sew 2 rows of very long stitches (probably the longest setting on your machine). Sew these stitches close to one edge, so the fabric ruffles only on one side.
Once those are sewn, you should have 4 threads hanging off of each end.
Choose one end, pick out the top 2 threads from just that end of the fabric, and pull gently.
This should cause the fabric to gather and ruffle.
You'll need to eyeball this part. Decide exactly how tight you want the ruffles and pull more of the thread for more ruffley.
I went with a looser ruffle which I found easier to work with for this project, and easier to sew on straight.
Once you have your ruffle, the fabric should be long enough to lay across the narrower part of the paper. Your ribbon piece should be about the same length.
Using your straight pins, pin the ribbon on top of the ruffle on top of the paper.
Your ribbon should be wide enough to cover the stitches on the fabric so it looks like just a ruffle coming out of the ribbon.
I used the ribbon as the straight margin against my text, with the ribbon coming off the right side. The edges of both the fabric and ribbon are folded over the paper and pinned in place (to give a cleaner look)
When pinning, I found it easiest to pin at each end and at the 1/3rd and 2/3rds of the length.
Now it’s time to sew it into place!
I left the pins in as long as possible and sewed very slowly. I still didn’t get it perfectly straight, but you’re probably a better sewer than I!
You will be sewing 2 lines down each – 1 on either edge of the ribbon.
It’s easiest to sew the side closest to the visible fabric FIRST because that will hold it all in place better for you to sew the other side down.
Once you’ve sewn down the length of the ribbon on each end you are all set!
Just cut off the loose threads and mail!
*Some hints:
the most time-consuming part is cutting all the pieces to the right size. If you get all the little pieces ready first (paper, fabric, riboon) you can fly through the sewing lickety-split.
since these are about half the size of standard letter paper, it’s really easy to find envelopes that fit
for a more ruffly ruffle start with a longer strip of fabric.
Thanks for stopping by! Can’t wait to see your take on this project!
Amy T Schubert blogs about arts, crafts, inspiration and photography at Lemon and Raspberry. She is a photographer, scrapbooker, writer, crocheter and amateur seamstress. Really, it’s just fun to play with the arts and crafts. Please check out Lemon and Raspberry’s most recent free ebook offering - Better Photography in 3 steps.