After Thought Ruffle Plus a Few Tips on Ruffles - 9/1/2007 Fashion loves ruffles and we have seen ruffles eagerly embraced by Rowan’s knitwear designers and, to an even greater degree, by Colinette who has used them throughout her two collections, Muse and Femme Fatale. All these designers planned their ruffles ahead of time and incorporated them into their knitting. But we decided to tell you how to apply ruffles after you have finished your garment or accessory, when you think of them as an after thought. And we do not mean knitting a separate ruffle and sewing it on. You will use the basic technique of picking up stitches but, in this case, you will pick up on stitches within the garment (internally), not on the edge. The direction in which you pick up will be based on right and left as you work on the garment, not as you wear it. We will use stockinette stitch as our garment’s stitch pattern, though you could pick up stitches into other stitch patterns. One suggestion before we start: To keep your pick up line from wavering mark it with a contrasting colored thread woven through the stitches with a tapestry needle. Use embroidery thread or some other lightweight thread. Take care not to split stitches. This suggestion is most helpful when you are picking up on a slope or on yarn that obscures the stitches you are picking up in. Just like picking up along an edge you will use a single needle. However when you pick up along an edge you pick up as if to knit and the purl row that is formed is on the inside of the knitted piece. When you do this internally on the surface of the knit fabric the purl row will be visible on the outside above the pickup row. If you pick up purlwise a knit row will be visible below the pick up row. To cover either of these rows you must anticipate how the added fabric will lie so that it will cover the row. Generally a ruffle will lie downwards so we suggest picking up purlwise which is what we did in our example. Here are two of the simplest ways to pick up stitches. The first way is good for picking up along a horizontal line or a moderate slope. Work from right to left – remember these directions apply to the fabric as you are working on it, not as you are wearing it. Picking up knitwise, insert your needle into the center of a stitch along your marked line and then back out the center of the stitch immediately above. Wrap the stitch to knit and pull through the new st. Picking up purlwise, insert the needle into the center of a stitch along your marked line and then back out the center of the stitch immediately below. Wrap the stitch to purl and pull through the new st. The second way is most helpful when picking up along a vertical line or along a steep slope. In this method you are working into the sides of stitches. Turn the knit fabric sideways so your stitches are laying horizontal and work along your marked line from right to left. Since a stitch has two sides, a right and left, it is important to decide into which side you are going to pick up in. Like the first method you will have either a visible knit and purl row along your pick up line, and you will also have the other half of the stitch you are picking up in visible. So again you must decide how your added fabric will lie so as to cover the row and the half stitch. If your new fabric will lie to the left pick up purlwise into the right half of the stitch; if it lies to the right pick up knitwise into the left half of the stitch. Here’s how to do this. Picking up knitwise, insert your needle up under the side of the stitch, wrap to knit and pull through your new stitch. Picking up purlwise, insert your needle down under the side of stitch, wrap to purl and pull through your new stitch. Now that you have picked up your stitches you are ready to knit your ruffle. Here are some tips. The fullness of your ruffle will depend on the difference in the number of stitches you start with and the number that you increase to plus the distance over which you work the increases. For all ruffles you will double the number of stitches on your first row. Thereafter you can spread increase rows out by working even on one or more rows for a ruffle that will be softer and looser. Or you can continue to increase on all subsequent rows for a short crimped ruffle. If you do not want the outward edge of your ruffle to curl inward then knit one or two stitches at this edge in garter stitch. Experiment with different needle sizes and with different stitch patterns. A large needle used with a lightweight yarn will yield a looser, drapery ruffle; a small sized needle will yield a tight, firm ruffle. Once you have picked up the stitches you could try a lace pattern, a color pattern or textured stitch pattern. Just remember that any other stitch pattern other than stockinette stitch or garter stitch will have a pattern multiple that must fit your stitch count both at the start and through the increases. For this reason look for patterns with multiples that are divisible by 2 with no remaining stitches. Also consider patterns that make it easy to work increases. For color patterns use stripe patterns. If using a fairisle pattern be sure that you are stranding loosely along the underside of the ruffle. And why not try a picot bind off for your ruffle. And finally we borrowed an idea from a past issue of Vogue’s Knit 1. If you want to add a knitted ruffle to a non-knitted garment or accessory then first sew on a band of rick rack tape. Then pick up your stitches under the points of the tape.