Tutorial: Ruffles!!

I love to sew. One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is to turn on a girly show, belly up to my sewing machine with a nice glass of wine (or two), and start creating. But despite all the time I've spent binding together fabrics, I realized the other day that I had never made a ruffle! I love ruffles! There are few things on earth as romantic and whimsical than a well placed ruffle, yet I had never attempted to incorporate one in any of my projects. Seems almost impossible. Then it occurred to me that I didn't know how. Embarrassing. 

Thankfully, there is very little you can't learn with the help of the internet. I quickly located two helpful tutorials and decided I must share them, along with some of my favorite potential ruffle projects. Have no fear craft-nots, I've also included a number of places to purchase the listed ruffle-laden beauties. 

The two recommended tutorials are as follows:

Ruffles 101: A Pretty Cool Life will show you how to create a nice and basic ruffle, complete with pics.

Ruffles 201: For those looking for a bit more from your ruffle About.com has some good instructions on how to execute a number of different ruffles.

Now that we have the skills, here's the inspiration!

How to Make:

1) The picture of this beautiful ruffed tablecloth comes courtesy of Country Living and I was able to find a fantastic tutorial on how to make one of your own on The Planner and The Procrastinator. If you like what you see, you should check out their Etsy shop too, I didn't see any ruffles, but I saw some pretty fabrics. 

2) This dreamy duvet cover can be found at Urban Outfitters and while taking on the huge task of ruffling up an entire king size duvet cover may not sound like much fun to many of you, it does to me and Kiki Creates gave me all the instructions I need to make one of my own!

3) If a ruffled bedspread is too much, maybe you'll consider a couple shabby chic curtains? A Boy, A Girl, and A Pug has a wonderful tutorial on how to make these soft ruffled curtains. 

4) I've recently developed a bit of a "thing" for napkins, and I'm completely in love with these GORGEOUS ruffled napkins from PomPom at Home. I was able to find a nice little tutorial on Chez Beeper Bebe on how to make some simple ruffled napkins of my own. 

Where to Buy:

Buy #1: If you're in the market for a ruffled tablecloth, you're in for a treat! RuffledLinens (fittingly named) is a talented Etsy seller who makes all sorts of ruffled items, including some beautiful tablecloths!

Buy #2: The prettiest ruffled duvet cover I found was the one at Urban Outfitters. If you're going to buy, they're probably your best bet.

Buy #3: Not surprisingly, there are a number of talented Etsy sellers who know how to ruffle. PaulandErika have some beautiful ruffled curtains in their store here. While you're there, check out their ruffled chair covers too! They're dreamy.

Buy #4: If you're looking for these beautiful white ruffled napkins, RuffledLinens has some in her store, and the exact ones in the picture are available here, but if you are feeling a bit more adventurous Lily Bloom has a fun colorful set in her store here.

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to start creating some ruffles!