DIY Neoprene ruffles

A couple of years ago I fell madly in love with neoprene, and not your normal run of the mill neoprene but the neoprene that’s disguised as a sweatshirt in the form of this jersey back neoprene. As soon as I spotted it on moodfabrics.com I knew it would be the best fitting most comfortable fabric ever. It fits beautifully and is extremely easy to work with. No need to iron and as long as you use a rotary blade, you can keep the edges raw.

The pattern I used for the skirt was the instructions from this neoprene self-drafted pencil skirt, with the following alterations:

-Removed the zipper (this fabric is comfortable enough to go without

-Added a ruffle hem by cutting two pieces of fabric 6″x34″. Sew the left and the right side together and attach to the bottom of the skirt by pleating as you go around.

-Top stitch the waist band and where the ruffle meets the skirt.

The top was made using McCall’s M6992 with the following alterations:

-Added 1″ to the height of the neck

-Removed 9″ from the bottom of the pattern

-Added a 1″x20.5″ ribbed neck band

-Added a 1.5″ ribbed sleeve cuff

-Cut a 4″ curve from the front of the sweatshirt and add a 6″x40″ pleated ruffle to the hem

-Added a 8″x45″ pleated ruffle to the back of the sweatshirt

-Added a 20″ pleated ruffle to the seam of the sleeve seam of the right side of the shirt and a 12″ ruffle to the left side.

-Double needle top stitch all the seam