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!

The Ruffler Foot - Beginning the Exploration

The ruffler foot has always been somewhat of a mystery to me.  So, I've decided to do a series of me learning a little bit about the ruffler foot.  Below is my machine with the regular foot and ankle attached:

Here's the foot, ankle, and screw removed from my machine:

Here's the ruffler foot attachment from the front of my machine. Note that the projection is in the 1 position on the adjusting lever:

Here is the ruffler attachment from the side.  Note that the adjusting screw is tighten all the down.  Sorry the picture is so dark.

Here's I've started playing with the ruffler.  I'm using 12" length x about 3" width of Symphony broadcloth.  See below each picture for the particulars.

With the first item in the above picture, I used the default machine stitch length of 2.5mm with the adjusting lever set at 1 for 1 stitch per pleat.  This results is very tight.  For the second item, the stitch length is 3.0mm.  It is still very tight.   However, I can see a use for this.  I will explore this more later.

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For this set of examples, the stitch length is set at 3.0mm.  The first item pictured has the adjusting lever set at 1 for 1 stitch per pleat.  Very tight.  The second item pictured has the adjusting lever set at 6 which is a pleat every 6th stitch.  This is a very nice pleat.  The pleat is about 1/4".  The third item pictured has the adjusting lever set at the 12 for a pleat every 12th stitch.

Here I started playing the the adjusting screw.  I didn't know about this screw until recently.  I let it out about 3/4 of the length of the screw, I think.  I like this.  If I can figure percentages here, I think this would be the fastest way to a gather.  The setting are as follows:  stitch length 2.5mm with the adjusting lever in the 1 position.

Today, I learned how to adjust the depth of the pleat on the ruffler foot.  I never knew that you could gather this way.  I want to explore the gathering with this foot a little more.  I can see a lot of uses for using the gathering portion of this foot but I want to be able to do it consistently because every time you want to make a change to the depth of the pleat, the foot has to come off the machine.

That's it for now.  Next time, will be all about gathering.

Happy Stitching!

The Ruffler Foot...

Do you have a ruffler foot for machine?  I do.  I always make sure that I have this foot available just in case I would like to use it.  When I checked my ruffler feet, I found that I had three - one for the Husqvarna Rose/Lisa, one for the featherweight, and one with the treadle.   Here's a picture:

The feet are all the same style only varying in size.  The one on the left belongs to the Featherweight, the one in the back belongs to the treadle, and the one on the right belongs to the Husqvarna.  At one time, this was considered a basic foot on a machine and was provided with machine along with instructions.  I suppose that is why the Featherweight and Treadle have this foot.  Here's a close up of the foot from the Singer book:

The parts are as follows:

A.  Foot - the part by which the ruffler is attached to the presser bar.
B.  Fork Arm - the section that must be placed astride the needle clamp.
C.  Adjusting Screw - the screw that regulates the fullness of the gather.
D.  Projection - the part that projects through the slots in the adjusting lever.
E.  Adjusting Lever - the lever that sets the ruffler for gathering or for making a plait once at every 6 or 12 stitches; also, will disengage the ruffler when neither the gathering or plaiting is desired.
F.  Adjusting Finger - the part which regulates the width or size of the plaits.
G.  Separator Guide - the guide on the underside of the ruffler containing slots into which the edge of the material is placed to keep the heading of the ruffle even; also for separating the material to be ruffled from the material to which the ruffle is to be attached.
H.  Ruffling Blade - the upper blue steel blade with the teeth at the end to push the material in plaits up to the needle.
J.  Separator Blade - the lower blue steel blade without teeth, which prevents the teeth of the ruffling blade coming into contact with the feed of the machine or the material to which ruffle or plaiting is to be applied.

Lines 1 through 5 indicate where the fabric is to be placed for the various operations:

Line 1 - the correct position for the material to which the ruffled material is applied.
Line 2 - material to be ruffled.
Line 3 - the facing for the ruffler.
Line 4 - the strip of piping material.
Line 5 - the edge to be piped.

The little book includes instructions for Adjusting the Ruffler for Gathering, Make a Ruffle and Sew it to the Garment in one operation,  Ruffle and Sew on a Facing in One Operation, Piping a Ruffle, Adjust the Ruffler for Plaiting, Adjust the Ruffler for Group Plaiting and Gathering, and How to Oil the Ruffler.  There are many pages devoted to the use and care of the ruffler.

The instructions that came with the Husqvarna shows a similar picture:

There is no explanation as to what the letters are pointing to in the picture.  The Husqvarna instructions provide How to attach the ruffler to the machine (5 steps), how to set your ruffler (2 small paragraphs), Gather & Sew Pleats (2 small paragraphs), Gather a Ruffle and Sew It on a the same time (2 small paragraphs).  The instructions are about the same size as the picture.

So, how in the world do you learn to use this foot?  There are not that many resources available.  My little library has "Learning and Using Your Ruffler Basic Instructions and Projects" by Leota Black and "The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook" by Charlene Phillips.  I'm pretty sure that the book by Leota Black is not longer in print.  I know that there is someone in Canada that is producing a book. It is Labors of Love.

So, I went on-line to see if there were any resources.  YouCanMakeThis has a free ebook.  It looks like it does a good job explaining the ruffler.  I found this blog - See Kate Sew which has a couple of posts regarding the ruffler.  The pictures show a slightly different version of the ruffler.

Oh, I see lots of opportunity to run a ruffler.  The best would be learning how to gather with it. Think about how much time that would safe.  Think about how nice it would look.   Think about adding decorative ruching on items.

I'm going to do a weekly discussion of attempting to use the ruffler.  Most likely, this will start small and hopefully will turn out a couple of projects. So please join me as I explore the ruffer foot.

Happy Stitching!