Skein Passion

Luscious 'fioro' hand died merino-silk yarn skeins from The Yarn Bowl in the shades sepia rose, abalone and plum purple As Valentines day approaches sprinklings of pink hearts and cutesy romance sayings start popping up all over the place. Yarn sales are overflowing with red and pink colourways and patterns are dotted with love knots.  But I want to talk about Passion. That deep intense desire you experience when you touch that divine squishy yarn skein, you know the one I'm talking about, that skein that makes your heart sing. It's a magic colour, squishing it is like touching a cloud with the lustre of angels. The yarn of your dreams. Where were you when you had that experience the first time? In a specialty yarn store looking at the silk-alpaca blends? I'm willing to bet it wasn't, more likely it was at the discount store passing the bargain aisle and this little ball of fluff caught your eye and you sighed and squished it and wished you had the skill to turn

Ruffler Foot Made Sew Easy It's Hands Free!

Ruffles, ruffles and more ruffles
If you've ever used a ruffler foot you will know you need to guide your fabric carefully.

I've been making a Victorian Gown. That means lots of ruffley goodness. I have about 150 meters of ribbon I'm using on this project most of which I've been pleating using my sewing machines ruffler foot. 

Carefully guiding that much yardage through would drive me insane!

I needed a way to make it easy and fast without needing a lot of concentration.

I needed to automate guiding that ribbon through.

It's so easy and simple and effective I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier.

All I needed was one scrap piece of cardboard cut to size and some stickytape.

cardboard and sticktape ruffler guide

I cut a strip of cardboard and bent the ends to fit around the ribbon. Positioned the ribbon where I wanted it to feed through and stuck the cardboard down with tape.

DIY ruffler guide

Then I folded the cardboard ends over and taped them down too. Not too tightly just enough to allow the ribbon to slide through easily but low enough that the ruffler won't hit the cardboard during ruffling.

cardboard ruffler foot guide

I tried to take a photo I hope you get the idea.

ruffler guide in action

And that's it! My ruffling life has changed forever. I now have hands free Ruffling. I did a bit of unpicking whilst I ruffled a mountain of ribbons. It does help to keep an eye on the ribbon and make sure it feeds in flat.


Have you used a ruffler foot before? What did you make?

Hands free ruffles using your ruffler foot