Love my Ruffling Foot!

We just held one of our Sip & Tips (you bring your coffee to sip and we demo a technique or yak about cool sewing stuff) in our shop called "Foot Fetish!". There are so many feet out there for your machine that can simplify your stitching, as well as speed up the process and give you better-looking results. More of that handmade rather than homemade look. One that tops my list is my ruffling foot.

It's a little scary-looking. But it's amazing. And so cool. It pushes the fabric forward with the forky-prong-like piece, makes a pleat, and stitches it down. You can set it to stitch down every pleat pushed forward, or to skip stitches, so your end result can range between super-ruffly to a pinch-pleated look.

I wanted to change the "Casey" jacket pattern by Children's Corner by deleted the hood and rolled-up cuffs, and adding ruffles. I first tore two 3-inch wide strips of  45" fabric, stitched the short end together, and pressed open the seam. I then folded and pressed the strip in half length-wise. I ironed on a strip of 1/4" Steam a Seam along the wrong sides of one of the long edges.

Wait till it cools, then peel off the paper backing.

Fold it in half length-wise, wrong sides together, and iron along the raw edges. The raw edges are now bonded together.
Now strip you want to ruffle won't shift around when you insert it under the ruffler foot.

I usually increase my stitch length to 3. Guide the fabric loosely, making sure you have plenty of slack as you feed it through.

So much easier than basting and pulling and evening out......

Topstitch!

Handmade vs. Homemade--the discussion continues! And in no particular order.
Topstitching. Why bother? You've stitched. You've pressed. It looks absolutely OK. (Pattern by The Cottage Momma: Shortcake Reversible Romper, View B--LOVE it!--with added ruched ruffle & buttons)

Step it up a notch. Topstitch it. Since this dress is reversible, I made sure my bobbin thread matched my upper thread. I like to use my edge-joining foot, nestling my center guide (little metal piece that hangs down in the middle) next to the fabric edge. I moved the needle two positions to the left.
Straight stitch at a normal stitch length (2.5). You may want to slow your machine until you feel comfortable--particularly on curves. Pivot at corners, keeping your needle down. (One of the reasons I love having a knee lift! I can use both hands)

 Go super-slow on the rounded corners. You can take 2 or 3 stitches, & raising your presser foot, turn the fabric slightly & stitch a couple more. Repeat until you get all the way around.

A topstitched garment is so much easier to iron after it's laundered than one that's not. No searching for the edge of the fabric, no readjusting. It also is far less likely to ravel after repeated washings. Take the few extra minutes to topstitch!