learning new sewing techniques

While I should have been organizing

my craft room,

or fixing the crowded too small basement

this week end,

I played and learned some new sewing techniques.

I had not been sewing for a long while,

may be more than 2 months,

I know hard to believe,

I feel almost back to normal!

Alright, onto this new stuff I am talking about:

Shirring with elastic thread,

probably not earth shaking for most,

but I had never done it!

I followed this tutorial

and it worked!

A very important point:

do not forget to steam at the end,

it is like magic!

I must admit it was fun,

it makes me wonder why I did not try earlier!

Onto the other new to me technique:

a gathering foot,

not a huge one (and expensive)

but a small, regular one:

I had purchased it a while ago,

but it never really worked for me.

But I was about to gather a few row of white muslin,

I decided to give it another try,

and this time success!

The best settings are big stitching length and

fast speed.

If you slow down or stop, it will not be uniform,

it also only work for light fabric,

but it is so much easier to stitch to the other fabric.

I made my band extra long as I did not know how much

gather I was going to get,

but in less than one minutes

I had 3 yard of gathered band,

ready to sew onto the garment,

yep it is fast.

Now you might be wondering what I am making,

with hot pink panne velvet

and white muslin....

Well a Mardi Gras costume of course!

I am not sure it will be done for tomorrow,

luckily Miss C. does not really care about the date,

just me!

Happy sewing!