The Ruffler Foot - Gathering Part 1

I explored the gathering just a little bit with the last post on Beginning the Exploration.  Today, I will be playing a little more with the gather function of the ruffler attachment.  Let's start with two things I learned in the from the last post:

1. When the adjustment screw is tighten all the way, it makes a very nice pleat that is the depth of the stitch.
2. When the adjustment screw is loosened until the end was even with the bottom of the adjustment screw hole where the adjusting finger is no longer in play you get a straight stitch with no gathers or pleats.  This would be the same as putting the Adjusting Lever to 0.

So, with that, we have seen both ends of the spectrum.  Now, for the gathering.  I will be starting with the adjustment screw in the position as outlined in item 2 above.

In the first set of examples, the settings are as follows:

1. The adjusting lever is set to 1.
2. The stitch length is set at the machine default of 2.5mm.
3. The adjustment screw is one full turn down.

Using the settings above I produced two samples.  The first sample is the broadcloth that started at 12-inches.  I drew in 1/2" seam allowances on both ends for starting and stopping point.  This produce a nice gather with the resulting fabric ending up 8-inches in length. I can see this being uses to create ruffles for sleeves, skirts, etc.  The second sample is the blue ribbon.  This is a polyester ribbon that was cut to a 12-inch length.  As you can see, it puckered a little bit but I wouldn't call it gathered but you could call it easing.  The ribbon ending length was 11 3/4-inches.  

In the second set of examples, the settings are as follows:

1. The adjusting lever is set to 1.
2. The stitch length is set at the machine default of 2.5mm.
3. The adjustment screw is two full turns down.

Using the settings above, I produced two samples.  The sample is the broadcloth that started at 12 inches in length with 1/2" seams marked on both ends for starting and stopping points  This produced a nice tight gather with the resulting fabric ending up 6-inches in length.  I can see this being used for the same type of items as the first set of example.  The second example is much difference.  The ribbon gathered this time and was very hard to control.  It started at 12-inches in length and ended up at 9 3/4 inches.  If you look closely at the picture of the ribbon you can see that somehow the stitching ended up on the opposite side.  In nor sure how it happened.

In the third example, I have left the settings the same as the second set above.

In this set of examples, I wanted to see if I could get the 1 to 2 ratio to work.  The base fabric on both examples is 6 inches.  The ruffled fabric on both examples started off at 12 inches long.   The thinking was that the two fabrics would end up being the same length.  As you can see this was faulty thinking.  It looks like the ruffling blade was taking a bigger bite or maybe it had something to hold onto.  The second example above just adds the ribbon and the gathering is a little tighter.  However, the ribbon is on the incorrect position.  I would want it in between the two fabrics.

One final picture:

This is the first item in the third example so you can see what the ruffle would look like.  Wouldn't this make a lovely ruffled tiered skirt?  Maybe it should not be so tight.

So, what do you think?  I will be exploring the gathering a little more as I want to figure out how to the use the slots and how they affect the fabric.  

Happy Stitching!