Respect the RUFFLES!!

More sewing done this weekend.  Gathered all my sewing materials and "instructions" (ha) together, put my shiny-new sewing machine in the trunk, strapped Rhiannon into her carseat and off I went to Mom's house for some more sewing lessons.  Specifically, how to "Gather the Ruffle".

Now come on, if you were the one making instructions for an "Easy" pattern, don't you think that you should include something more than just this:

Oh. Ok. I'll just "GATHER upper edge of ruffle."
And what the hell is that string in the middle???

Throw me a bone here!  Would it have cost that much more in ink for you to print the words "Sew a very loose stitch down the raw edge, then to gather, pull on ONE thread & work the gathered material towards center of work".

Anyhow, Mom in her infinate sewing wisdom, showed me the Magic of the Gathering (isn't that the name of a video game or SciFi book???) and I ruffled up the skirt and the shoulder straps:

Ruffles are there.  Trust me.

There is still a lot to do, and unfortunately I'm at a "Instructions Impasse" so will have to wait until Mom comes over.

In the meantime, how are YOUR aprons going?  Hopefully Mama Tea has had a glass or two and RE-started her Apron Attempt.

Oh, gld wanted to know what kind of machine I had:

Kenmore, purchased about eight years ago.
All this power at my fingertips, and I have yet to read the
instruction booklet that came with it. 

Not only does the machine have a 1,2,3,4 printed it to show you
how the thread goes, but there's even instructions on how to
thread the bobbin!  I LOVE no-brainer instructions!