What is the difference between a gathering foot and a ruffling foot

I am a recovering perfectionist though and I am learning to let it go, except for obvious clumps and that usually doesn't happen anyway. If I were to gather the skirt, I would find the middle points and quarter points of the panels to be attached and clip a little notch. I would run one set of zigzags halfway around, leave long threads for pulling, and run a second set the rest of the way. Trying to gather around the whole thing will make you crazy. When it comes time to gather, I pin at the notches I made and pull my gathering stitches tighter than I will need them to be.

To me, it seems to be easier to distribute gathers while I am relaxing the volume of gathers. I wish you good luck and happy stitching, whatever your final gathering destination may be!

Good info about the gathering gadget. I don't like gathering as well and do it lots for my daughters skirts. I've found out that if I switch my thread to polyester for the basting stitch it has never broke on me so it's worth the effort of rethreading my machine for it. Now I do that every time and haven't had a problem. Yep, I still have to even out those pesky gathers, but it never breaks. Good luck, and thanks for the info. Those are all the same reasons I am leery of those special feet I look forward to more posts about this I hate adjusting gathers, too!

I had no idea you could do that. Catch you next week! Love ya. That ruffler looks awesome. I didn't even know they made such attachments.

The zig-zag method for gathering sounds like a great trick to try as well. I HATE when the thread breaks! There's usually lots of huffing and groans of despair when I'm trying to gather a gather :.

I'll try that. Did I blow LeeleeFL, looks like at a frequency of 6 it is roughly 2 to 1. I agree, I think the key is buying a bit extra fabric. The slowest crafter in the world. Robyn, have fun! Love you too. And pppphhhhtt! Great info! I bought a ruffler for my Bernina when I saw it demonstrated at a class, but I've been too intimidated to try it out. You've made me want to give it a whirl! Oh man I am of the "I hate gathering" persuasion, myself, and anything I can find to cut down on the torture would be a welcome addition to my sewing machine.

I've just always been a little suspicious of their lofty claims. Or maybe I hate gathering so much that I had an automatic prejudice against any tools designed to do such a hateful task. Looks like they deliver, though. I had the exact same question as you, however, wondering how to figure a fabric length.

I await your findings with bated breath, as the only thing I find more distasteful than gathering is math! I found it quite helpful. I was one of those that passed on the zig zag trick it was told to me by the saleslady at a sewing store. However, now that I've seen what the ruffler does So for you, it seems like a good investment. I am like you, not math lady I haven't read the whole thing, but I've paged through it and I'll be studying it.

Take the fabric to be gathered — it should be at least 1. For a good ruffle take 2 times longer fabric ; for a fuller ruffle take 3 times longer.

Keep the fabric to be gathered right side up on the machine under the presser foot. You may want to experiment with the stitch length and tension to see the type of gathering you want finally on your fabric.

Hold the top and bobbin thread to the back and start sewing — Your fabric will start making the gathers. Sew two layer of fabric together while making gathers on one of them. You can use a gathering foot to gather a single layer of fabric and at the same time stitch this to another layer of fabric. No need to make the gathers and then attach, as two steps.

Increase the stitch length and tension of your sewing machine. Keep the fabric you have to gather on the machine under the foot, right side up. Now keep the straight fabric you have to join on top of the fabric for gathering, right side down.

That is the two fabrics will be kept right sides to the inside together. Align the edges. Now start sewing. Pull the fabric to be joined the top , as you sew — this will make the gathers on the bottom fabric better.

You can also use the Gathering Foot to gather and sew on a flat piece of a fabric at the same time, which is great for attaching a skirt to a bodice! The fabric you're gathering goes under the presser foot while the flat goes into the top slot!

It might take a little practice but it's simple, saves time and looks fantastic! This foot does more of a pleat then an actual gather, so take a good look at your patterns and determine which look you are wanting to achieve. It's customization to pleat fabric at 3 different stitch intervals and can be adjusted farther with the stitch length. If you need more adjustment for your ruffles you can change your stitch length, the smaller the stitch length the more ruffles you will get!

You can also use the Ruffler Foot to join your pleats to a flat piece of fabric, it takes a little more coordination and time so it's not my preferred technique! I hope you found this blog helpful and encourage you to try them out! There's some great YouTube videos out there on how to use each foot and more specifically for your machine!

Thanks for reading!! Great information. Thanks for explaining them so clearly. The easy way - Cut the ruffle a bit longer than needed and then trim any excess at the end.

The precise way — Cut a test strip of 10 inches then gather it with your foot. Measure the new length. If it is 5 inches you have a gather. Keep adjusting the stitch length and tension until you have the correct ratio. Your gathering foot can gather a single piece of fabric, or it can join a flat piece underneath all in one go.

This definitely saves a lot of time! You will still need to experiment to get the gathers the correct ratio. Start sewing with the flat fabric right side up and your fabric to be gathered the wrong side up.

In other words, garment and ruffle are right sides together.