If you’ve seen a bata de cola on stage or in a video but haven’t had a chance to hold one in your hands you know that it has ruffles on the underside but might be wondering what kind of ruffles they are and how they are made.

As discussed in another article a bata de cola needs a certain amount of body/stiffness and weight for the flamenco dancer to move it well. It is achieved by

• the materials used for the tail itself
• adding outer ruffles
• adding ruffles to the underside of the tail

Let’s have a look at the inner life of a bata de cola!

As always, there is no one right or wrong way of doing things. I will share with you what I have learnt making batas de cola for flamenco dancers (see a few examples in the photos above and below) all over the world as well as from visiting bata de cola classes and looking underneath as many batas de cola as possible.

Materials Used

I always use a stiff nylon material called “can can” for the underside ruffles (see Flamenco Fabrics Where to Buy Online for links to online shops that sell it). In fact, most batas de cola I have seen have underside ruffles made from “can can”. Occasionally I have seen a stiff tull or very rigid poplin fabric.

Shape and Size of the Ruffles

The underside ruffles of a bata de cola are approx. 15-18cm wide, either circular ruffles or box pleat ruffles. 

I use both but tend to prefer box pleat ruffles since can can is a stiff material and easier to handle this way. I cut approx. 17cm wide strips of can can along the entire width of the material (1.50m), the pleats are then hand folded and sewn in place.

The ruffles can have a plain finish or a small box pleat ruffle for added volume. I use a plain finish for batas de cola with underside ruffles covering the entire tail. For batas de cola with 3 or 4 underside ruffles only I tend to finish them with a small box pleat ruffle, either with a center seam or sewn in place on one side, basically a miniature version of the ruffle itself.

 For box pleat ruffles you need material strips 3 times the length of the finished ruffle, i.e. one 1.50m long strip results in 0.50cm box pleat ruffle. So if you need 10m of undeside ruffles for your bata you’ll need 20 strips (1.50m long) of material.

When I finish the ruffles with small box pleat ruffles I start with those: cutting approx. 3cm wide strips (3 times as many strips as I need for the main ruffles, so staying with the above example: for 10m of underside ruffles I need to cut, fold and sew 20 strips approx. 17cm wide and 60 strips approx. 3cm wide for the small ruffle), folding and sewing them in place and then attaching them to each large fabric strip.

Next I fold and sew in place the main ruffle strips. Joining the 0.5m ruffle pieces is the last step before attaching them to the bata de cola.

Positioning of the Ruffles

A bata de cola has at least one but usually two inner ruffles along the hem of the entire skirt and tail and 1 or more additional ruffles in the tail area only. The more ruffles you place in the tail area the stiffer your bata de cola will be.

Attaching the underside ruffles is the very last step when making a bata de cola. For the position of the underside ruffles I use the seams of the outer ruffles as guidance so it varies depending on number, size and position of the outer ruffles. Sewing the underside ruffles requires not only following the seams of the outer ruffles but also using your hands to keep the outer ruffles out of your way and avoid them getting caught in your seam.

Sounds like a lot of work? Well, it is. There is no denying it. But the end result makes more than up for it.

If you know what you’re doing, the pattern is for you: