KathleenCrowleyCostumeCouture: Fluffie Rufflie Dance Pant and Pantaloon Sewing Tutorial -

Thank you for purchasing my Fluffie Rufflie Pattern! Since I wasnt able to give the best instructions with the pattern, this tutorial will help you along!

The Fluffie Rufflie Dance Pant pattern (shown above ) is meant for very stretchy fabrics. I like to use a medium to heavy weight cotton lycra for the upper portion of the pants, but you can make it out of anything that has a good 2 way stretch. I also like to use stretch lace for the flounces, but you can experiment with that as well. Sometimes a woven or heavier knit is better for the bottom tier as it gets more friction if it drags on a ground surface. The knits drape very well. Just remember that these flounces will get very heavy and the heavier the fabrics, the heavier the drag on the pants!

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The Fluffie Rufflie Pantaloon pattern (shown above), is meant to be used with woven fabrics. The body is looser and the legs are wider. Because the legs are wider, there is more fabric used in the flounces. You could use a sturdier knit that wont stretch if you have that, but I suggest a woven material for the body of the pantaloons because they will hold up the weight of the legs without sagging. BUT the two patterns are similar in the way that they are constructed, so we will use the Dance Pant as an example. The main difference would probably be in the way the casing is made. Just make a 2" casing at the top of the pant, and weave your elastic through the casing , sew the elastic, and sew the casing shut.or leave it open.

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As you can see, this is a multi-sized pattern. It goes from Extra Small to Extra Large.
This pattern is meant to sewn up by someone who understands patterns and sewing techniques......but sometimes the best way to learn is to just dive in and do it. Use cheap knit to experiment and get the fit down.

Hip sizes:
XS - 31-35"
S - 33-37"
M - 35-39"
L - 37-42"
XL - 39-45"

If you want to enlarge this pattern, I cant really teach you how to do this, but here is a way to make do: if you were to cut the top of the pattern in half from top to bottom, you could spread it out in 2 inch increments per size that you would like to grade up from. Here is an example of adding width to a pattern. Make a mock up first and get the fit from the mock up. You can make your mistakes with the mockup fabric. You will also have to enlarge the insert pieces and the flounce pieces. This will make the flounces very wide, so you might have to piece them.

There is no variation in the inseam measurement of 34". You will have to shorten or lengthen up or down from this. Make a mockup out of cheap fabric is you have need to experiment!

See what I mean when I say that using wide fabric is best if at all possible. This flounce fabric is doubled in half and the pattern wont fit on it. So you are going to have to unfold it and refold it in such a way as to double the yardage and get your flounces.

There. Thats better.

You waste a lot of fabric this way, but the flounces are lush and beautiful and look so much more elegant than a gathered ruffle (which can be done very effectively and much more efficiently if you choose - but I'm showing you how to do it this more dramatic way). Go ahead and make a skirt or scarf out of the leftovers!

You can either cut out the top of the pants or cut out the flounces and inserts first. It doesnt really matter. Ive used a rather ugly taupe colored cotton lycra to demonstrate the construction of the upper body because you can see it better. Susie Bianca, my assistant, is cutting out an extra large upper body. I like to trace around my patterns with chalk before I cut them out. I make all my markings with the chalk. Some like to cut around the patterns without marking the fabric first.. I say do it how you prefer. Make sure that you cut a double notch for the back crotch and a single notch for the front crotch. This will make it easier for you to assemble.

Cotton Lycra has a good two way stretch. If you use another kind of stretchy fabric, make sure that the stretchiest part is going in the direction around your body - not up and down from hip to knee.
Susie Bianca is about to cut into a knit with a minimal stretch for the leg bands:

These insert pieces are the bands that you attach the flounces to. These basically form the leg that the flounces float around. Because this fabric must support the weight of the flounces, I use a medium to light weight knit with one way stretch. The pattern has a grain line on it, which shows you which way to lay the pattern out. But always make sure that you have the leg width being cut in the direction of the most stretch. All fabrics are different, so test the fabric by stretching it out and see which direction stretches the most. The grain line goes in the direction of the least stretch - try to have very little stretch at all. The stretchiest part will go around the leg.

Be sure to cut or mark notches in the leg insert bands. Don't cut too deep - maybe an 1/8". You will be laying them out according to the notches when you assemble them. I have cut these notches too deep and sewed them up only to find that I needed some extra length and had to redo the pants legs - dont cut the notches too deep!

One of the most important notches will be the notch that you cut at the top of the flounce. This notch will be matched up to the seam on the insert. Don't cut this notch too deep, but make sure you can see if there is a pattern on the fabric. The nature of these flounces will often mean that the flounce will be uneven. They will do this naturally because they are cut in a circle and there is often a grain or one way pattern to the fabric. I try to cut the notches on the stretchiest part of the fabric so that the fabric "drops" and hangs more on the sides instead of the front and back. But that's just my preference.

After I cut everything out., I hem the flounces by serging them. I have industrial machines which make this easier for me, but a small home model serger will work perfectly. You can even zig zag the edges. If they wont fray, you can leave the edges unfinished.

Once Ive serged the edges of the flounces, I lay out the tiers in the order that I would like them to look on the leg.

Now I assemble the Upper body portion of the pant. I start by serging the center front.

Sew the center back next:

Then you will sew the legs. Unfold the upper body and butt the crotch seams together:

Start with one of the legs, sew up to the center crotch, and then continue sewing to the end of the other leg: Butt that center crotch seam together!

Now you will attach the elastic. Measure your elastic, overlap an inch on both sides and reinforce your stitching by sewing in an X.

Mark your sewn elastic by marking the front, back, and sides with 4 pins.

Pin the elastic to the wrong side. The overlapped elastic with the stitched X will be placed at center back:

You will now baste the elastic to the upper edge of your pants. Stretch a bit as you sew. (but don't pull through the machine!)

Serge or zig zag your elastic onto the upper edge of your pants.

Fold over the elastic and carefully pin it in several places if you need to. You will then zig zag the elastic casing down in place. This part of the pants body is done for now and you can set it aside.

So now we are going to serge the insert bands together to form a tube. You can sew them all in a line, clip them apart, and put them in piles of two.

#1 set has 1 and 2 notches

#2 set has 2 and 3 nothces

#3 set has 3 and 4 notches

#4 set has 4 and 0 notches. The 0 notched end will be where you start adding your flounces. ( by 0 notches, I mean that there are no notches)

You start with the bottom set of inserts and the bottom set of flounces. Match the outer seams of the inserts with no notches to the notch on the right (face) side of the flounce.

I pin these together in four places, then baste stitch the upper edge. After that, I sew 1/2' seam.

Do each set of flounces and inserts (bands) at the same time unless you are using all the same fabrics. Its easy to get the layered sequences mixed up if you dont pay attention. You will then scream and cry because you have to rip out seams and figure out how to get those flounces back in the right places. This first set that you just did will be the last tier of flounces on your leg.

So now that this first layer is done, you will add the second flounce onto the first band by matching up the flounce notch and the band seam.

Take the next set of bands with #3 and #4 notches and match that up to the layer you just sewed - seam to seam over the notched flounce. Sew this on in the same manner as before.

And now you have your second layer of flounces. Continue in this manner, tier by tier, until you have a full set of 5 layers of flounces for each leg. Check and make sure that you got them all matched up.

These are now ready to attach onto the upper body of your pants. I suggest basting them on first and checking the length. You can adjust the length at the band inserts and also at the upper leg. This is what they are going to look like inside out:

Place the leg in the upper body with the right sides of the fabrics facing each other. Match up the side seams and pin evenly in four places.

After basting these parts together and checking the fit and length, you can sew these two parts together.

I sew more than might be necessary, but if you are wearing them a lot, something is eventually going to give, and it would be better to have reinforced seams for when the threads give way and break one day.............just sayin...........................better safe than sorry!

Now you can overlock or zig zag all those band seams.

Measuring the front and back crotch seams: These seams are what determine how much room in the trunk that you need. Since this style is meant to be warn about 3" below the bellybutton, many of you will need them to rest lower on the hip bone and this measurement will help you with that. Double check this.

Checking the Inseam: Crotch to Hem. If you are making the pants super tight, take into consideration that this might raise this hem length a bit.

Hang these overnight and check the hem length. The flounces may droop in odd places, but this is the nature of this kind of ruffle. If you want them perfectly even all the way around, you can mark them after you let them hang and re-overlock or trim and zig zag the edges again.