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Moderated by EleanorSews
Posted on: 4/15/18 10:35 AM ET
I've been experimenting with ways to gather and attach a cuff, but I'm curious about how other people would go about doing it. I'm attaching a cuff to the bottom of a pair of harem style pants, so they have a large, baggy leg and a fitted cuff at the bottom. I gathered using a basting stitch on my sewing machine, serged the cuff on, and then picked out the machine stitching. Is there a faster way that I'm missing?
Posted on: 4/15/18 12:58 PM ET
I gather in the seam allowance, using the technique called "crimping" (or crowding or ease plus), where you hold your finger behind the presser foot and let the fabric bunch up. It forces a bit more fabric into each stitch. Often I find this gathers or eases enough that I don't need to do any additional pulling of the bobbin thread; but even if I do it makes the process so much faster!
And b/c I've only done a line of stitching in the seam allowance, there's nothing to unpick after I serge.
Before PR introduced me to crimping, I had decided that it was easier to gather by hand with a long running stitch, than fight with my machine about it. (My machine's longest stitch is only 4.5 mm.) I had gotten quite adept at it, and I liked the control it gave me over adjusting the gathers.
You can actually do the gathering on your serger, too, which I guess would be even quicker... but I've never gotten the hang of it.
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And b/c I've only done a line of stitching in the seam allowance, there's nothing to unpick after I serge.
Before PR introduced me to crimping, I had decided that it was easier to gather by hand with a long running stitch, than fight with my machine about it. (My machine's longest stitch is only 4.5 mm.) I had gotten quite adept at it, and I liked the control it gave me over adjusting the gathers.
You can actually do the gathering on your serger, too, which I guess would be even quicker... but I've never gotten the hang of it.
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~Elizabeth in the prairie
More Plans than Sense
PR's Most Relentless Babbler 2024
More Plans than Sense
PR's Most Relentless Babbler 2024
Posted on: 4/15/18 1:13 PM ET
In reply to stirwatersblue
PSST!: set your serger for the highest "gather" on your differential. Try a test strip. If that's not enough, park your finger behind the serger foot and add the "crimp" like you were using the sewing machine. If the combination is too gathered, break the needle thread every few stitches and pat it out into a relaxed form.
Posted on: 4/15/18 1:35 PM ET
In reply to bwalker187
I, too, am a crimper. AKA "ease plus". If you've never seen it done, here's Margaret Islander demonstrating crimping on a patch pocket, and then on a shirttail hem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zyTaEfo-J0 -- start at 14:00, go to about 18:00.
Actually, the whole video is worth watching.
Other machine methods of gathering:
What you're doing, with water soluble thread in the bobbin. The bobbin thread disappears in the wash.
Zigzagging over a heavy thread (dental floss is popular) laid on the fabric, then pulling up the dental floss.
Put a narrow double needle in the machine, loosen the top needle tension and sew. Pull up the needle thread.
Multiple rows of machine stitching, like you've done, and pull up the multiple threads (my least favorite, but the way I learned as a kid)
Use a ruffling foot/attachment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YduH3bn3fGk
Use a shirring foot if the fabric is light enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbyJxbv-D5I
Use a gathering foot if the fabric is light enough and you're wanting to sew it to a flat piece at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqSaI3i47E
Suggested reading, and obtainable cheap as a used copy: Nancy Bednar and Joann Pugh-Gannon's Encyclopedia of Sewing Machine Techniques. https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Sewing-Machine-Techniques-Bednar/dp/1402742932 (Amazon page shown solely because it has reviews). Don't try to sit down and read it stem to stern... as you have a few minutes here and there, pick a method that interests you and try it on scraps. Next time you've got a couple of minutes, try another. Pretty soon you'll have built up quite a "vocabulary".
Actually, the whole video is worth watching.
Other machine methods of gathering:
What you're doing, with water soluble thread in the bobbin. The bobbin thread disappears in the wash.
Zigzagging over a heavy thread (dental floss is popular) laid on the fabric, then pulling up the dental floss.
Put a narrow double needle in the machine, loosen the top needle tension and sew. Pull up the needle thread.
Multiple rows of machine stitching, like you've done, and pull up the multiple threads (my least favorite, but the way I learned as a kid)
Use a ruffling foot/attachment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YduH3bn3fGk
Use a shirring foot if the fabric is light enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbyJxbv-D5I
Use a gathering foot if the fabric is light enough and you're wanting to sew it to a flat piece at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqSaI3i47E
Suggested reading, and obtainable cheap as a used copy: Nancy Bednar and Joann Pugh-Gannon's Encyclopedia of Sewing Machine Techniques. https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Sewing-Machine-Techniques-Bednar/dp/1402742932 (Amazon page shown solely because it has reviews). Don't try to sit down and read it stem to stern... as you have a few minutes here and there, pick a method that interests you and try it on scraps. Next time you've got a couple of minutes, try another. Pretty soon you'll have built up quite a "vocabulary".
Posted on: 4/16/18 1:15 PM ET
In reply to kayl
Ooooh, excellent! I do use the differential to ease curves, but haven't tried much more than just the first setting. There might also be a ruffling foot somewhere hiding among my tools that I haven't ever used, either.... 
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------
~Elizabeth in the prairie
More Plans than Sense
PR's Most Relentless Babbler 2024
More Plans than Sense
PR's Most Relentless Babbler 2024
Posted on: 4/16/18 1:31 PM ET
In reply to stirwatersblue
OMG, I must get more proficient with my serger. You and kayl are experts!!
Posted on: 4/17/18 8:06 AM ET
Increasing the differential feed on my serger didn't work- maybe because I'm working with a stretchy knit? The crimping method works wonderfully, but now I have another silly question. The machine stitch is static and won't stretch with the knit. If I cut it off as I serge, the gathering comes undone. Should I just break the stitching in a few places after it's serged to make it stretchy?
Posted on: 4/17/18 11:48 AM ET
In reply to bwalker187
Break the gathering stitch (crimping in your case) after you've attached the cuff. If you need the cuff to stretch, switch to a 3 thread overlock or a stretch stitch on your sewing machine to attach the cuff.
If your differential didn't do much gathering on your knit, consider increasing the presser foot pressure and needle thread tension. In the midst of a project is perhaps not the best time to play, but when you get this done, play with scraps and find out what your machine can do.
When I'm working with knits that I have to gather before attaching a cuff, I often use crimping on the sewing machine, with washout thread in the bobbin. Gather the fabric, attach the cuff, and the washout thread disappears with heavy steam from the iron or in the laundry. If you leave a tail of the top thread hanging out of the cuff when you stitch the cuff on, you can just pull that top thread out after the wash. Or you can use soluble thread in both top and bobbin when you crimp.
If your differential didn't do much gathering on your knit, consider increasing the presser foot pressure and needle thread tension. In the midst of a project is perhaps not the best time to play, but when you get this done, play with scraps and find out what your machine can do.
When I'm working with knits that I have to gather before attaching a cuff, I often use crimping on the sewing machine, with washout thread in the bobbin. Gather the fabric, attach the cuff, and the washout thread disappears with heavy steam from the iron or in the laundry. If you leave a tail of the top thread hanging out of the cuff when you stitch the cuff on, you can just pull that top thread out after the wash. Or you can use soluble thread in both top and bobbin when you crimp.
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