Astoria Overalls - Ruffle Straps and Wave Tucks

Adding Bodice Detail and Ruffles to Astoria Overalls

Guest Blogger: Heidi Geren

Hey everyone! Heidi here. I absolutely love the Astoria overalls, don’t you? When someone in the Facebook group posted a picture asking if there was a ruffle strap option, I knew that I needed to try it. I also saw some pictures of wave tucks on Pinterest and fell in love with the detail, so I decided to add these to my bodice as well. Below I have provided step by step directions to help you achieve this same look. I can’t wait to see what you create!

Adding Wave Tucks

Cut a long rectangle that is the height of your bodice and approximately 4 times as long.

With a water soluble fabric marker, draw vertical lines every .5” all the way down your rectangle.

Next, take two lines that are next to each other and match them up. Use a pin to secure, and iron the pin tuck to one side.

Repeat this process for the entire rectangle. You should have a rectangle with lots of pin tucks all the way down. Make sure to press very well with your iron.

Next, sew down each visible vertical line to secure the pin tuck. Now mark a horizontal line every 1”.

On every other horizontal line, turn the pin tuck in the other direction and secure with a pin.

Finally, sew down the lines to secure the wave tucks. Now you have a rectangle with wave tucks!

Lastly, use your pattern piece to cut your front bodice out of this piece of fabric.

Ruffle Straps:

Measure the length of your strap piece. Cut 4 rectangles that are twice as long as your strap and 2” wide.

Using something curved, like the edge of a plate, curve the ends of your straps.

Pin two ruffle pieces together, right sides together. Sew along the curved edge with a 1/4” seam allowance. Clip the curves and turn right sides out. Press with an iron and topstitch with a 1/8” seam allowance.

Repeat for the other ruffle strip. Sew a gathering stitch along the long straight edge of both ruffles.

Constructing the straps:

You will need to do this a bit differently than the directions in the pattern so there is room to insert the ruffles. Fold your strap piece in half and press. Unfold. Fold each long edge down 1/4”, wrong sides together and press. Fold in one end by 1/4” and press.

Now fold the strap in half and press. Gather the ruffle strip to be 1.5” shorter than the length of your strap. Open your strap piece and place your ruffle inside.

Make sure that you place the front and back of the ruffle up 3/4” from the end so the ruffles don’t get caught in the bodice when you are sewing it. After your ruffle is sandwiched inside the strap, topstitch along the strap opening with a 1/8” seam allowance. Now you have a ruffle strap and a wave tucked bodice. Proceed with the pattern directions to complete your Astoria overalls.