OK, since I can't seem to remember anything now-a-days, I need a spot to remember what I've figured out in the hours of trial and error. Hence I started this blog. Here goes....
The gathering foot for the Brother 1034D serger was a challenge even though it seemed so simple. Here is what I have learned to make this easier the next time I need to use this foot:
The gathering foot for the Brother 1034D serger was a challenge even though it seemed so simple. Here is what I have learned to make this easier the next time I need to use this foot:
Steps to gather:
1) Using scrap material (but same as the material you will be gathering in the end), find the tensions settings that work best for serging the edges of the material. Just plain old serging of the edge, nothing else. In this case, I am working with lightweight material, and I have set my tension to the following: Left Needle: 4, Right Needle: 3.5, Upper Looper, 4.5, Lower Looper, 4.5.
Photo of the serged edge:
2) Attach the gathering foot that came with the machine.
Picture of the gathering foot:
Photo of it attached to the serger:
3) Set the differential to 2.
4) Set the stitch length to 4.
5) Using 2 pieces of scrap material (same length), load them into the gathering foot. The material to be gathered goes underneath the gathering foot - the material that it will be attached to goes in the slotted middle section of the gathering foot.
Photo of me loading the material that will gather. I lifted up the presser foot by hand to make it easier. The material stops just short of the cutting knife.
This is the area to load the second piece of fabric (this piece will not gather).
Photo of both pieces of the fabric loaded into place:
6) Making sure I put the presser foot down, I hand turned the wheel until the needle touched both fabrics. I had to keep sliding the upper fabric forward as it didn't like to automatically move at this point. It took me around 4 turns.
7) I slowly started gathering using the foot pedal. With my left hand, I gently pushed the fabric towards the gathering foot, as it liked to walk away to the left (which prevented the attachment of the 2 materials).
Photo showing the top material gathered to the bottom material (not gathered).
This gave me a gather length of around 63% of the original length. Reducing the differential number to 1 2/3 gave me a gather length of about 74% of the original length. The formula is as follows:
(1 - ((Original length - ruffled length)/Original length)) X 100
.....or, broken down:
1) Subtract the ruffled length from the original length (Original length - ruffled length)
2) Take Answer #1 and divide by the original length (Answer #1/Original length)
3) Subtract Answer #2 from 1 (1 - Answer #2)
4) Multiply Answer #3 by 100 (100 X Answer #3)
One would use this information to determine the differential setting to make gathered tiers on a dress or skirt. For this material, I used tiers starting at 1.5 times the waist measurement, so I needed a differential setting that gave me a ruffle that was about 70% of the original length. It you were making a tiered skirt that was 2 times the the waist measurement, you would need a differential setting that gave you a ruffle that was about 50% of the original length.
That's it! Hope that helps!
