How to Make Shoulder Ruffles with Lettuce Edge Hem (Free Pattern!)

Fancy adding some cute, curled edge shoulder ruffles to one of your me-mades?

I added shoulder ruffles to one of my Billie sweatshirt dresses and loved the result so much I decided to make a free pattern so you can make them too! (Take a look at more photos of my Billie dress here.) You can also add these ruffles to the Freya top or dress from my book Stretch, or the Tabitha t-shirt or dress from my book Make it Simple – or basically any garment pattern designed for knit fabrics and which has a shoulder seam.

In this post, I'm going to share a step-by-step tutorial for how to sew the shoulder ruffles, including a video on how to create the curled "lettuce edge" hem on an overlocker (AKA serger). If you don't have this machine, don't worry - keep reading to the end where I share an alternative method of making shoulder ruffles using just a regular sewing machine.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE SHOULDER RUFFLE PATTERN

Tilly's Shoulder Ruffle Billie Hack

I love love love the simplicity of the regular sleeve version of the Billie sweatshirt dress. Having said that, I can't say no to a ruffle, so decided to add experiment with some little shoulder flourishes on one of my Billie creations. And I love the result!

Truth be told I got the inspiration from a similar top Khadija on The Apprentice once wore. Not my usual source of fashion inspiration, admittedly!

I cut out a long crescent shape piece for each ruffle, sewed a lettuce edge hem on my overlocker to give it that rippled effect, then gathered the other edge in place to the bodice shoulders before adding the sleeves. If you fancy adding some shoulder ruffles to your own make, stay tuned as I've got a full tutorial coming next week with a video AND a free pattern download ;)