Bring up ruching outside of sewing circles, and you may receive a 'gesundheit' or two. But sewing enthusiasts know ruching is a great technique to use when adding decorative effects to your sewing projects. In French, a ruche is a ruffle or a pleat. And that's pretty much what it means in English too. But everything sounds so much fancier in French. Our tutorial shows you a basic way to create strips of ruching by machine.

Ruching has been a popular technique in sewing for centuries. Since creating it is very similar to creating gathers, you might also want to check out our tutorial: Gathering & Ruffles Made Easy.

In future tutorials, we'll address other techniques you can use to make larger pieces of ruching for pillow tops, curtain insets and other home décor projects. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, make some of these easy ruching strips.

To Make Ruching Strips

1. Cut a bias strip of fabric. A basic width for the strip is 1½", but you can widen the strip if you want the ruching to be fuller.
   NOTE: How much to make will depend on the finished shape you want. For our flower pictured above and below, we made about 3 yards of 2" wide strips. You can join strips together if need be.
2. Press the bias strip in half to identify the center of the fabric.
   
3. Unfold and press each side of the bias strip in to the center fold line. The two sides should meet in the middle. This is the back.
   
4. Turn the strip over so the front (the flat side) faces you.
5. Using a fabric marking pencil or pen, draw lines in an even sawtooth pattern (at 90˚ angles) along the entire length of the fabric.
   
6. Stitch along these lines using matching thread. (We used a contrasting color thread for our photo so you could see the detail, but you should use matching thread – you don't want the thread to show.) You can stitch by hand, using long basting stitches, but we like to use our machine 'cause it's fast and easy.
7. Select a straight stitch on your sewing machine.
8. Using the stitch length adjustment, make the stitch as long as possible. This creates what's called a 'basting stitch'. For help on stitch length adjustment, check out our handy reference article.
9. Leaving at least 4" tails at the beginning of your sewing, stitch along the drawn lines you created in step 5. DO NOT BACKTACK at the beginning or end of the seam.
10. If your machine offers a needle down feature, (a feature which makes the needle stop in the 'down' position when you stop sewing) it will be helpful to use it so you can pivot easily as you stitch back and forth along your sawtooth line.
11. Stitch along the entire length of the bias strip.
    
12. Remember – do NOT backtack at the end; instead, simply sew off the end and leave about 4" tails when trimming your top and bobbin threads.
13. Remove the fabric from the machine. GENTLY pull on the top (needle) thread tail to gather the fabric together. The fabric will gather together with the thread running through the center of the strip, forming ruching. Use your other hand to push the fabric along and keep the ruching even.
    
14. Gather to the consistency you like – pull more for a tighter ruching effect, or not as much for a looser ruche.

Pretty Strips... Now What?

1. Use your ruching strips to create a dimensional decorative effect, like a flower.
2. Thread a hand sewing needle with thread to match your ruching strip.
3. Curl your ruching strips into your desired shape, then simply tack the gathers by hand around and underneath each other, hiding your small hand stitches as you go.
4. Tuck the beginning and end of the strip to the back of your shape and tack both in place.
5. You now have a fun shape you can attach, much like an appliqué, to the surface of your project.
   

Comments (12)

Betty Mc said:

... I've seen ruching done at the top of drapery panels as a separate piece attached to the panels. would anyone know how to do it?

September 01, 2011

Rogéria Neto said:

... Adorei!!Muito obrigada!Deus a abençoe!!!

February 18, 2011

Carol Nimmo said:

... How can you make ruching to put on around bottom of leggings that stretch? I have tried everything and mine won't stretch. When grand daughter puts her foot in she breaks some of the threads because it won't stretch. Help me please. Thank you. I have tried elastic thread in the bobbin.

February 04, 2011

Carol Nimmo said:

... TY I have tried the elastic in the bobbin. I guess I'm just not doing something right.

February 04, 2011

Liz Johnson, Editor, Sew4Home said:

... Hi Carol Nimmo -- I am not a garment expert, but my suggestion would be to try a string elastic or elastic thread instead of traditional cotton thread. Here's a selection at CreateForLess: http://www.createforless.com/search/search.aspx?txtSearch=elastic thread&gclid=CKfq7cih7aYCFSJ0gwodNlJ_Fw

February 03, 2011

Carol Nimmo said:

... How can you make ruching to put on around bottom of leggings? I have tried everything and mine won't stretch. When grand daughter puts her foot in she breaks some of the threads because it won't stretch. Help me please. Thank you.

February 03, 2011

Carol Nimmo said:

... How can you make ruching to put on around bottom of leggings? I have tried everything and mine won't stretch. When my granddaughter puts her foot in it breaks the threads. Please help. Thank you.

February 03, 2011

debbiedykes said:

... can't wait to use these!

April 05, 2010

CarlaTV said:

... THis is great and would work beautifully in my home.

January 18, 2010

Liz Johnson, Editor, Sew4Home said:

... Two great ideas in a row!

January 14, 2010

IMADEITMYSELF said:

... I made ruching ona dress this summer using string elastic. You mark several lines across the width of the fabric, cut the elastic 3/4 that distance and using a straight stitch, stitch the elastic. Do this for up to 12 rows; very cute dress/topp. My two daughters just loved them! As did two of my grand-daughters! That makes Grandma a happy seamstress!

January 14, 2010

Karla Doodlebug said:

... This looks like sew much fun! I can see using this to make cute "flower" to dress up a plain T Shirt!

January 13, 2010

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