We will now show you a simple technique called “ruching.” This is basically gathering the material up. We are going to show you this technique using a skirt but it could be used on almost any garment. This is a great method if you want to show a little leg. We suggest you use it on the side of the garment where you are going to be doing the most kicking. It is a great look if you are looking for something that is a little saucy but you still want to keep it elegant.
Supplies:
- Dance skirt
- Thread to match dance skirt
- Appliqué or broach, optional
- Thread to match appliqué, optional
- Small scissors to clip threads
Directions:
Choosing Your Materials
The first thing you need to do is choose the garment that you want to ruch and then choose any optional appliqué or broach you may want to use. For our demonstration, we are going to use a short circle skirt. This technique also looks really nice on a long skirt.
Ruching a Skirt
The first thing we are going to do is find the center back of the skirt. Then decide where we want the ruching. Do you want the right leg? The left leg? We are going to go ahead and choose slightly off center on the right side. You really want it to be off center because if it is in the center it will look like an arrow pointing to the crotch. That is very unflattering.
Fold the skirt in half with the center back seam off to the left. That means that the fold on the right will be off center. Using Tailor’s chalk or a small bar of soap, draw a line down that fold. Lay the skirt out again with the center seam in the center and make sure that the chalk line is in the correct location. In the demonstration, we are using white thread so that what we are doing is clearly visible. However, you will want to use thread that matches your skirt. From underneath the skirt, start sewing from the hem up towards the waist with even stitches about every ½ inch along the chalk line gathering the material as you go. Think about how far up you want the ruching to go. Do you want to go all the way up to the waistband? We would suggest you not go quite that far. When you get up to where you want it to end, tie the thread off on the underside of the skirt and then anchor it with another stitch and tie the thread off again. At this point, you want to even the gathers out. You will notice that there is a slight tab of material at the hem. You can leave it the way it is or you can fold it under the skirt and stitch it down. We prefer to fold underneath and stitch it down.
You could leave the skirt like it is. However, we often add an appliqué over the ruching. If you want to add the appliqué, then just lay the skirt down again and place the appliqué over the ruching. Even the gathers out and then pin the appliqué in place and stitch the appliqué in place making sure not to catch the thread on the appliqué. This gives it a beautiful finished look and it keeps the ruching even.
