©2017 Lacey J Hill, Golden Thyme Designs
An easy way to ruffle a length of fabric uses size 10 crochet cotton thread and the Zig-Zag stitch of your sewing machine. Set your stitch width to 5 and the stitch length to 2.5. Thread the cotton crochet thread under the pressure foot and in the center of the opening of the foot. [See Diagram 1 at left]
Begin sewing at a moderate speed, making sure to feed the thread centered under the foot with the fabric. Take care not to catch the crochet thread under the needle. At the end of the seam, leave a 10” tail of cotton thread and gather the fabric to the desired length. Then top stitch the gathers in place, an 1/8” from the edge of the fabric.
Tip: Attach a safely pin to the fabric at the beginning of the seam and tie the thread to it with a bow. Then sew as noted above.
Thread Gathered Ruffles
An efficient way to create ruffles by machine is the by using the Ruffler Foot attachment. Every electric sewing machine has a Ruffler Foot that can be purchased for your machine.
Please follow the instructions included with your Ruffler Foot attachment for accuracy.
Ruffler Foot Attachment
Pleats
Pleats can be made quickly if you use a cardboard template and a large cutting mat with numerical grid.
Align the fabric on a horizontal grid line. Slightly fold a pleat into the fabric and slide the cardboard template into the fold to create the depth of the pleat. Finger press the pleat, remove cardboard and pin. Continue pinning the length of your fabric.
Then top stitch the pleats in place, 1/8” from the raw edge of the fabric. Now you can add the pleated ruffle to the edge of your skirt or blouse and finish the raw hem edge with your garment.
Dia. 1
