The Ruffler

One of the best things about owning a Bernina is the feet (at a premium, I might add) that make tedious tasks simple. Since purchasing my new Bernina (which sews only) I have become addicted to some of the available feet. One fun foot to use is a ruffler. Sadly, I had purchased a ruffler for my Baby Lock which, unfortunately, doesn't work on the Bernina (go figure!). Still determined to ruffle and not go bankrupt purchasing feet, I found an adapter foot that allows me to use the Baby Lock ruffler on the Bernina. Now, I'm back in the ruffling business.

If you watch the video at the top, you will see that a ruffler is a mind-boggling contraption that requires patience and endurance. You also must love the idea of breaking lots of needles. THEN there's the math component to ruffling. You actually have to calculate the amount being ruffled against the length of the fabric to which your ruffle will be attached. Hey, I thought sewing was suppposed to be fun...no math people!

The most confounding part of the ruffler, however, is the screw. You make it tighter for deeper pleats or looser for gentler pleats. Unfortunately, the screw is not exactly exact. My directions tell me to count the threads on the screw and then tighten to the 12th thread, etc. I just want pretty ruffles, not a headache from having to remember how many times 8 goes into 56.

Still, every so a often a blind squirrel does find a nut...



...and this squirrel is now ready to ruffle.