New Grandma Wants to Sew!: Gathered bottom frill on A line dress

The simplest way to add interest (and the all-important 'spin') to a dress is to add a frill. This post looks at adding a gathered frill. A later post covers adding a curved frill, or layers of frills. In these posts, I am mainly assuming a woven fabric, but you can use a knit if you prefer and adapt the pattern. I'll have another post on this as well in due course.

I'll assume you are starting with a standard A-line dress pattern. If you don't have one, you might like to download my A-line in sizes 4-8 years.

First, you need to cut the dress pattern short by the depth you want the frill to be (less half an inch for the seam). The deeper it is, the more spin - but you'll also need more material. This one has about an 8" (20 cm) gathered frill. The one right at the bottom, for a smaller person, is about 5" (12.5 cm).

Let's say you want a frill 7" (18 cm) deep when finished. Then you need to measure up from the bottom (curved) edge, 6 1/2", or 16.5 cm, and draw a new curved line, on both the front and back pattern pieces. This will mean you have one half inch seam allowance (about 1.2 - 1.3 cm) on the main dress pieces.

You also need to measure the dress width all the way round half an inch up from the new edge. That means you need to measure the bottom edge (or rather, half an inch up from the bottom edge) on the back pattern piece, and on the front pattern piece, add these together, and multiply by 2. (Because each pattern piece is c. half the dress width.) Now subtract 1" + 1" + 1 1/4", or 3 1/4" (8.25cm) for the seams. (This is assuming you are using my A-line pattern which has 1/2" seams and 5/8" on the centre back. If you have a different seam allowance on what you are using, adjust this accordingly.)

To make a gathered frill, I usually multiply this number by 1 1/2. So, if the bottom edge, all the way round, less the seams, measures 46" (117 cm), the frill should be at least 69" (c 175 cm). Thus you need a long strip of fabric 69" (175 cm) by 7" + 1/2" (the top seam of the frill) + 1 1/4" for the hem. (The hem is up to you - you can have a deeper hem if you want to allow room for growth, or less hem if you prefer.)

You will probably have to piece the frill, as your fabric won't be as wide as 69". The neatest way is to cut two equal length pieces, joined at the side seams. But because of the gathers, you may be able to get away with more joined pieces. Just try to match the pattern on the fabric if you can. (As I have done here.)

Note that I haven't added back any seam allowance on the long measurement of the frill. You can if you want, but once it's gathered it won't make a lot of difference. I must admit, I often find myself cheating a bit at this point. Maybe I don't have quite enough - perhaps only 62" where I wanted 69". But it will be fine - just not quite as gathered.

I usually sew up the seams on the frill first, finishing the edges of the seams. Then do the bottom hem, and press it. You can see on this frill, I've done a very tiny bottom hem, as I was limited by the amount of fabric I had. The yellow dress (above and below) has a much deeper hem to allow for growth.

While I've still got the iron out, I use it to mark the centre front (via a little crease) on the dress, and centre front and back on the frill, to help with matching. On larger sizes, I may even press halfway between the side seams and the centre front and back, so I have 8 points marked.

Next, run a couple of lines of gathering stitch (the longest stitch on your sewing machine) round the top of the frill. They always say you should do at least 2, or even 3, in case one breaks, and also to help keep the gathers neat. I'm being really hypocritical here. I have never, ever, done 2, let alone 3, and I've never had the thread break. But don't do as I do, do as I say! However, I do sew the gathering thread in two overlapping halves, so I don't have to pull the gathers round the entire dress.

Pin the frill top and the skirt bottom right sides together at the side seams, centre back and front, and, if you've marked them, the halfway points. Then gently pull up the gathering threads so the frill fits the skirt, and put a few more pins in.