Anthro hack: Rosette Pillow Shams

Now that we know how to use our ruffler foot, we're going to be making these darling pillow shams. 

Our inspiration: 

These Rosette Shams from Anthropologie. I fell in love with these and just knew I needed to make them. It gives that extra punch of femininity to my bed. I did consider painting polka dots on my fabric, but I have another pillow cover to make and that fabric has polka dots on it already, so I decided to keep mine a solid color. But if you want polka dots, by all means, paint some on with some fabric paint. Go hog wild! Have a blast!

You will need:

1.5 yards of fabric

Coordinating thread

Sewing machine

Standard presser foot

Ruffler foot
Scissors

Cut:  THESE DIMENSIONS ARE FOR A STANDARD SIZE PILLOW, 29" X 21".

Seam allowances are included with the measurements
Back of sham - 36 x 21.75 inches (cut 1)
Front middle section - 15.5 x 21.75 inches (cut 1)
Front ruched section - 7.25 x 42 inches (cut 2) 

With your presser foot properly in place, adjust the ratchet gear feed plate to 6 and your machine's stitch length to 3. Weave your fabric through the cloth guide and begin sewing ruffles down the width of all the ruche sections. It will automatically sew a 1/4" seam. (Check out the Sewing 101 series or the tutorial on how to use the ruffler foot if you need more information.)

Here's a better idea of what you should have when you're done. You will ruffle the width of both sides on each cut you made. The sections will shrink considerably, about 1.5 times their original size, to about the same 21.75" width of your other pieces. Press all of your seams and ruffles, allowing them to lay as they will. You can see some of mine are a little haphazard. That's what you want.

Replace your ruffler foot with your standard presser foot and adjust your stitch length to 2. Right sides together, sew each of the ruche sections to either side of the the middle section with a 3/8" seam. Serge or zigzag (use the smallest stitch length possible) the edge of the seam to finish it off. I'm sorry I don't have a better picture of each section going together. Essentially, you should have the front of your pillow sham fully assembled.

Using a longer stitch length (I use 4), press the seam to the right (toward the ruche section) and straight stitch it down 1/8" from your seam line. This will give your panels more of a profesh look!

Now that we're talking about this being all professional and what not, remember perfection is not necessary in this next step. Find the middle of your ruche section and sew a straight line all the way down. Repeat this step on either side of the middle line you just sewed. We are trying to tame that poofy look you get with such large ruffled pieces, while keeping that professional appeal about it. That's the great thing about shabby chic styles, chic style without the clean boring lines. After all, Perfection is Never an Option!

Cut your back piece vertically down the center. (Remember: it's longer in length than width; cut down the width.)

Pin one half to the left side of the front of your sham and sew it in place with a 3/8" seam allowance. Repeat on the right side with the other half of the back.

Press the seams and serge/zigzag each hem to finish them off. You should now have one really long strip of fabric. We're going to close that off soon and shape our sham.

Fold the edge of the right side of the sham 1/2" and press. Fold it again, press again, then sew 1/4" inch from the edge of the hem.

Repeat the previous steps on the left side of the sham, but fold and press this side 1".

Now let's create our cases. Fold the left back piece over, right sides of the sham facing. This side should fall several inches to the right of the center of the sham. Then fold the right side of the back of the sham over. (Be sure you fold each side along the outside seam of each ruched section. I accidentally folded on the inside seam of one and couldn't quite figure out for a bit why my sham wasn't laying right.)

Pin all the away across the top and bottom and sew the seams into place with a 3/8" seam. Be sure the one inch hem is on the inside and the one half inch hem is on the outside before you do. This makes a difference when you go to turn it. Clip your corners, turn it right side out, and you're done. You've created beautiful shams. For a fraction of the cost. Congratulations!

Happy sewing!

Steph  

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Sewing 101: Ruffler Foot Guide

It's Monday! You know Monday's never meant anything to me until my kids started school. Now they are known as the day I No Longer Get To Sleep In. Huh ...? Have I digressed? I'm fairly certain I did my time. All 13 years of it.

On a blog related note, Ucreate posted a funny thing on Facebook this morning: determine your sewing name. Mine is Sassy Machine Master! I dig it. Why is this blog related? Because we're talking about sewing today. I'm sure the pinnable image was a dead giveaway. If you recall our Presser Feet Guide, you may remember discussing the Ruffler Foot, a presser foot designed to create perfectly pleated ruffles. It is hands down one of my favorite sewing attachments, and I thought it would be great to give you instructions on how to use it. 

I wanted to do a video tutorial, but it appears my camera bag, which contained my video camera, has gone missing. Err... At first I thought, No big deal, I can record on the laptop. Then the hard drive on that crashed. Well now! So ... we needed to settle for pictures. My apologies. But I will do my best to describe everything. The ruffler foot looks a little intimidating, but it's really not. In fact, it's fascinating to see it work. And I promise it will make your life so much easier.

Note, when purchasing a ruffler foot, it is best to buy one that is by the same brand as your sewing machine. Some say they're universal, but that is not always true.

HOW TO INSTALL

Remove any current presser foot you may have in place and unscrew your shank.

Angle your foot so that the fork arm hooks under your needle holder, hook it around your shank holder, then screw it in. Be careful to hold it in place while you screw it in, as it will give a small amount. 

To ensure it is properly installed, slowly hand crank your needle. It should go directly down into the small hole designated for it. If it doesn't go smoothly, or feels like it sticks somewhat, unscrew it and readjust. If you try sewing immediately and it is off ever the slightest mm, your needle will snap. 

SPECIFIC PARTS & THEIR USE

There are three main parts to this foot you are going to be working with in order to create your ruffles: the ratchet gear feed plate, the cloth guide, and the depth adjustment screw. You may also use your machine's stitch length.

In the picture to the left, we have the ratchet gear feed plate. This determines the number of ruffles you get. The star on the far left gives a straight stitch (no gather), the "12" gathers once every 12 stitches, the "6" every 6 stitches, and the "1" will gather with every stitch. For ruffles I like mine set at "6" and for gathering I use the "1" setting. 

In the right photo we have the cloth guide (the snake-like piece) and the depth adjustment screw. The cloth guide guides your fabric, holding it securely to create those perfect pleats. The adjustment screw works in sync with the ratchet gear feed plate to create custom pleats. The depth screw will determine the depth of your pleat, smaller taking small bits of fabric and larger taking bigger sections of fabric.

GUIDING THE FABRIC

There are two cloth guides, one on the right and one in the front. We're going to work with the larger one on the front. This step is very important to ensuring your fabric is pulled properly through the ruffling blade. Place your fabric over the first part of the cloth guide as shown in the second photo, under the middle piece (photo 3), then up and through to the needle. You are basically just weaving it through the cloth guide, starting on top. It is a little difficult to get down at first. I use my screw driver to help guide and push it through.

SEWING RUFFLES

As I mentioned before your stitch length will also determine the size of your ruffles. The shorter your stitch length is the tighter your ruffle will be — and vice versa. In this photo I have my stitch length set to "3" and am gathering every 6 stitches. (Before pressing your pedal, be sure your top and bobbin thread are pulled to the back. Also, do let the loose threads get caught in your sewing or they will cause the ruffles to curl considerably.) Begin sewing and watch the magic happen as that ruffling blade (the piece with the teeth on the front) pulls and tucks your fabric!

Now that we know how to use the ruffler foot, this Anthro-hack will be coming soon!

XO,

Steph

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Sewing 101: Sewing Machine Presser Feet Guide

There's nothing I love more than gathering sewing finds while thrifting. I've been fortunate enough to score not only an antique Singer sewing machine, but loads of presser feet and other sewing accessories. Presser feet can be expensive, depending on the attachment. As a seamstress of meager means, such prices are not always in my budget. So it brings me a lot of joy when I find them in bulk for just a few dollars. But what do all those sewing feet do?

PART ONE: SEWING MACHINE PRESSER ATTACHMENTS -- WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW THEY WORK

A standard presser foot (aka a universal presser foot) does all you basic stitches, straight and zigzag, and has a hole wide enough to adjust to your widest stitch settings.

An adjustable zipper foot is what is used to attach a zipper with ease. Yes, there's an easy way to do this! Slide the foot until your sewing needle fits in either slot, left or right side (depending on which side of the zipper you're on). It guides the needle right along the edge of your zipper. This foot is also known as a cording foot, as it can be used to make piping. I will soon be doing this for a chair I plan on reupholstering, so I will show a tutorial on making piping once it's done.

This is used to help attach binding to your fabric. It will thread through the cylinder shape piece, stitching it perfectly in place. This little foot is marvelous because that small cylinder keeps your binding set in place and you don't have to struggle to hold it aligned while you sew.

This particular foot often causes quite the debacle. There is always the war between gathering foot vs ruffler. It gathers fabric, creating very soft ruffles. I personally think this foot is best served for shirring.

I love this foot! Honestly, I would make a necklace out of it and carry it around with me. It does as it says, stitches along the edge of the fabric. It's great for those hem's with a close stitched edge. It can also sew lace to the edge of fabric beautifully. It's perfect for attaching ric rac. Even better, it can sew two pieces of fabric together, you can sew two pieces of lace together, attach piping, or use it for bias folds. Those few little grooves can do sew much, it's marvelous!

The creme de la creme of attachments, the ruffler is one of my favorites. It creates perfectly pleated ruffles, large and small. It's actually quite amazing to watch. It's a bit tricky to use, but once you get it, it's like magic! It honestly does not compare with the gathering foot, that's why I say that attachment is best used for shirring. A ruffler is more expensive, but you wouldn't regret the purchase. I promise! I am going to be working on some pillow cases and thought of sharing a video tutorial on using one, any interest?

The hinged presser foot is commonly used for sewing over seams and uneven surfaces. It's not for reverse sewing.

Another attachment gem, the tuckmarker creates tucks and pleats up to 1" wide without having to tack them. Check out this pleated pillow and you'll see what I mean, this is what it does.

The hemmer sews very narrow seams. Kind of how the edge stitcher works, but its sole purpose is to sew very close to an edge. The edge stitcher can sew two pieces together, this just sews hems small and easy. The groove on the back of your foot will determine how wide the hem will be.

A step up from a standard hemmer, the adjustable hemmer is your better bet. It makes hems ranging from 3/16" to 1". Just loosen the thumb screw and slide it left or right until you reach the desired width of your hem.

These tools can be truly amazing, making any sewing job easy. I cannot wait to show you guys some tutorials using them, that ruffler especially. I hope this info was helpful to you. Now, the next time you're out at the thrift stores, be on the lookout for these sewing accessories. I will keep my eyes peeled too, and when I come across more, we'll do part two of sewing attachments.

Happy sewing!

Steph

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