Ruffles

I've made a lot of ruffles lately.  80-odd at least.  So I thought I'd share some of the benefits of my experience with you, in case you ever found yourself needing to sew 80 ruffles.

Sewaholic has written a recent post on the usual method of gathering fabric, as often descibed in pattern sheets.  This is not my favourite method, because I have trouble gathering the fabric evenly.  Also, I used to get unwanted tucks, but this is because I didn't realise that you were supposed to sew between the 2 rows of basting stitches and not below them.  All those wasted years of frustrating gathering because I never learnt the technique properly. 

I was given ruffle-y ballet costumes to sew because the person who designed them decided that she did not have enough time to sew them!  When I started the gathering, I tried using the zig-zag over dental floss method, as posted here.  Only I used cheap cotton instead of dental floss because I had so many ruffles to do.  This was not working so well,  because the "dental floss" was not staying anchored, and I was pulling the gathering thread out too far and losing gathers.

So then I moved onto a modified zig-zag technique.  This was not the final method I used, but it is so interesting that I thought I would document the process here.

In the following photos, the upper thread is light blue and the bobbin thread is red. (A big thanks to my photographer.  This method takes 2 hands, so I had to enlist the services of my photographer, who interrupted his rugby viewing to take photos).

Hold the end of the upper thread and take a single stitch.  I use the hand wheel to take this stitch.

 Then use your other hand to grab the upper thread where it comes out of the needle.

 Pull both sides of the upper thread to bring the bobbin thread to the surface.

 With your left hand, hold the end of the bobbin thread and don't let it go.  Use your right hand to grab hold of the loop of bobbin thread that was brought to the surface.

 Pull this loop of bobbin thread out (don't let go of the end in your left hand).

 Keep pulling until the length of bobbin thread is at least as long as the final length of your ruffle, and then some.

 I push the upper thread back to the foot, just to keep it all tidy.

 Zig-zag over the loop of bobbin thread.

 Here you can see the blue threads zig-zagged over the red bobbin thread, behind the foot.

 You can either apply tension to the loop of bobbin thread, to gather as you go, or pull it tight afterwards to gather the fabric.

 Pretty tricky, hey?  But as I said, not the final method I went with.  The ruffles were taking me way too long.  I recently bought "industry clothing construction methods" by mary ruth shields.  I have only had it a few days, so it is too soon for me to review it, but I have read the chapter on skirts where it says only to use the basting / gathering method if you have a lot of time on your hands, as this method is too time consuming to be used anywhere but in a custum or couture setting.   Well, these ballet costumes are custom, but they are not couture, so I investigated the gathering feet described by Mary.

First I looked up my Elna manual.  Elna does make a gathering foot, so I went to see my local Elna man.  He could not help me out, so then I went to Spotlight (all the time wondering if I would be better off staying hojme and just getting on with the ruffles).  No gathering foot for Elna and none listed in their catalogue.  I was just about to leave when the ANGEL behind the counter pointed me in the direction of the generic sewing feet.  I have not tried generic feet on my machine before, but the Sewparts low-shank gathering foot only cost $3.99, so I thought it was worth a try. 

Check out my beautiful gathering.  The amount of gathering can be adjusted by altering the tension of the upper thread, the stitch length and the foot pressure.  My foot pressure is usually set at its maximum of 3.  I used my maximum stitch length of 4.  My upper thread tension varies from 0 - 9 and I set it about 6.5 to get the gathers below.  The fabric is a sheer nylon.  Apparently more gathering can be achieved by holding your fingers behine the foot so that the fabric does not pass through so quickly.  I did this, but I am not sure how much difference it made.  It took me a few goes, changing the settings,  to get the gathered strips to the length I wanted.  From then on, it was just a single row of stitching to produce beautiful, even ruffles.

I

I was so excited, I finished off the ballet ruffles and then began gathering everything in sight.  Some samples are shown below.  The fabric for these samples were harvested from the floor around my sewing machine, so you can just imagine what my sewing room looks like (and after a week of focussing on ballet costumes, the rest of the house does not look too much different to my sewing room)! The gathering foot seems to work best on lightweight fabrics.  From the left, there is a synthetic georgette, a lightweight cotton, a quilting cotton, a bias strip of Liberty fabric, a synthetic organza and a lightweight stretch denim.

A heavy-weight twill cotton did not gather very well.  I could not get any knit fabrics to gather at all.  The knits just would not progress under the foot.  Initially I was disappointed by this, but then Suzannah did a post on gathering knit trims.  The following sample was made using the regular sewing foot, a stitch length of 4 and an upper thread tension of 9.

After all the ruffles, I used the gathering foot to gather the tops of 14 pairs of green organza harem pants, that were then attached to a lycra waistband.  For a one-off garment, the basting / gathering method would most likely still be my method of choice, as it takes a bit of fiddling to get the right amount of gather with the gathering foot, but when sewing multiples, I am definitely a fan of the gathering foot.  I forgot to picture of harem pants before I gave them all to the studio.

I hope that ruffly, gathered things stay in fashion for a while longer, now that I am so proficient at gathering.


Here is a photo of the leggings for the ballet costume.  For my records, I used Jalie 2920, shortening the legs to below the knee.  The lycra had only 50% stretch, so I went up 2 sizes.  I didn't use the waist elastic measurements recommended by Jalie; instead, I measured the girls' waists and cut the elastic 3 cm shorter than this.

Narrow Bindings

I have been toiling away at my machine, sewing up ballet costumes for a local concert.  At the moment I am working on 14 caterpillar costumes.  Whilst the sewing itself gets tedious, I enjoy the process of working out my patterns and construction methods for maximum efficiency and minimum number of fittings.

These caterpillars are all wearing green satin bolero vests.  The fabric is heavyweight and frays terribly.  The boeros are for 6 yo girls.  This is the neatest method I came up with to bind the edges of the boleros, which have some rather tight corners.

Step 1  - Keep the bias binding folded.  Lay the binding with the folds facing upward on the right side of the bolero, matching the raw edge of the bolero with one folded edge of the binding.  Stitch down the centre of the binding.

Step 2 - Trim away the seam allowances (my seam allowances were 6 mm).  It is okay to trim off some of the binding.

Step 3 - Fold the binding, and about 1 mm of bolero fabric to the inside of the bolero and stitch along the folded edge of the binding.

This is what it looks like from the inside.

This is how it looks on the outside.

 This is the completed bolero.  Not perfect, but as neat as I can get it.
  

Tip for gathering tulle

I discovered a neat, little trick for gathering tulle the other day.  It starts with zig-zagging over dental floss.  I positioned the dental floss in the loop of my narrow-hemming foot to keep it centred as I was sewing.  I used a fairly wide zig-zag, so as not to get the dental floss caught.  Then, because I knew I was short of dental floss, I kept the floss under tension.  This had the added bonus of gathering the tulle evenly as I went, saving the tedious hand gathering step.  You can see it gathering behind the foot in the photo above.  Pull the floss tighter to increase the gathering.  The amount of gathering can still be adjusted after you have finished, as long as you have not cut the floss off too short.

Dress Construction

I have finished my dress for the Tessuti online awards, except for the waist stay. I haven't taken pictures of the final dress yet, but here are some of the construction details...

The fabric
- the outer fabric is Tessuti's Green Rapture, cotton
- the lining is Tessuti's White Option, cotton and silk blend
- the foundation layer is a cheery cotton print, with lemons on it, instead of the traditional calico layer
- the tulle is from a local bridal shop, not sure of the composition

The pattern
I generated a dress pattern using Wild Ginger software. The strapless bodice is boned, with princess seaming. The skirt is gored and flared. The dress is lined to mid-thigh. Three layers of tulle are gathered onto the bottom of the lining. I will put more details of the pattern in my pattern review. This dress would be so easy for anybody who sews formal or bridal wear, but it took a lot of research for me...the last strapless dress I made needed straps to stay up! The simple design showcases the fabulous fabric.
The boning

I used rigalene boning. This is only the second time that I have used it. The first time I made organza casings. This time I sewed the rigalene directly to the foundation layer. In future, I think I will make casings again, as this allows you to remove the boning during construction, or alter the lengths of the bones easily. The photo below shows how the boning is attached for straight and curved seams. On straight seams (side seams), the boning is sewn on both sides through the seam allowances and body of the foundation layer. On curved seams (princess seams), one side of the boning is sewn to the seam allowances only. The seam allowances are then trimmed before the other side of the boning is sewn to the foundation fabric.


The seams

The skirt was sewn with normal seams, overlocked and pressed open. I thought overlocking was best, because the fabric frays easily and is quite bulky. I overlocked the hem and used the blind stitch foot on my sewing machine to turn up a 5 cm hem. This was okay because the stitches don't really show on the print fabric. I did pick up a new trick in my latest Australian Stitches...use the free motion foot on your machine for basting up hems before blind-hemming them. Much faster than hand basting!

The skirt lining was sewn with french seams. Tulle was attached to the skirt lining, so no lining hem. I left the bottom edge of the tulle raw. I sewed the seams of the tulle with the overcasting foot on my machine and a narrow zig-zag, as shown in the photo below (I stuck the finished seam back under the foot, so I could remember why I was photographing the foot). The overcasting foot is designed for a wide zig-zag, over the 2 metal "pins" on the foot, but I found that a narrow zig-zag between the "pins" gave a neat seam.




After 3 muslins (still getting familiar with PMB4), the lining and foundations layers, I still wasn't happy with my princess seams. Taking on the adage "if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got", I decided that it was time to look for a better way. Enter Roberta Carr and "Couture. The Art of Fine Sewing". This is her method for doing princess seams.

1. Working over a ham, fold under the seam allowance along the marked stitching line on the side piece, and poisition it at the marked stitching line of the centre front piece.

2. Pin from shoulder to 3.8 cm from bust point.

3. Pin from hem up to 3.8 cm from bust point.

4. Shift ham for a strong curve under the bust area and place pins close together over the bust point. Ease if necessary by gently stretching the stitching line of the centre front piece.

5. Slipstich baste along seamline, with fabric shaped over a ham. Space stitches more closely together over the bust point.

6. Fold fabric right sides together and machine stitch, with the side piece on top.

7. Remove all basting.

8. Meld stitches from both sides with the edge of the iron. Press seam open over a ham.

9. Clip only as needed so seam lies flat. Clip at an angle.

Worked like a charm....

Zipper

I chose a lapped zipper application. I like the method given by Rosebud, in Threads Dec 07 / Jan 08, except that this article doesn't explain how to apply the facings. In one photograph, it looks like the facings are attached before the zipper??

Anyway, before I attached the zipper, I followed an article by Angie Zimmermann in an old edition of Australian Stitches (don't know which issue as I rip out the articles I want to keep). Her method prepares the top edge, so that a facing or lining can be attached after the zipper. Below is a photo of my completed zipper, before the lining is attached.

I decided not to put a hook and eye above the zipper, because I never do them up, and dress zips tend to be self-locking and don't open themselves...but there is a lot of stress in that area, so maybe I made the wrong choice. There is no room to add a hook and eye now and I am also wondering if the hook and eye would just pull the threads out of this loose weave fabric.

Waist stay

I am planning on using non-roll elastic for my waist stay (though the dress is very snug...I may not need one). I wasn't sure whether to sew the elastic to the seams or put in belt carriers. I have put in belt carriers for now, and will see how they go.

I looked at Kenneth D King's method for making a thread chain in Threads April / May 2008. He says a thread chain is a basic crochet chain, but you don't use a crochet hook to make it...instead it looks like finger crocheting. I tried this for about 10 seconds, and then thought, why not break out the crochet hook?


Well done to anybody who is still reading, this far down the page! Hopefullly I will get photos of the completed dress up shortly.