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4/17/12

Sewing Basics, to Mend a Ruffle, Make Gathers,or Repair an Evening Gown!

Grandmothers come in handy, sometimes anyway!!  I think getting old is just OK because the result is that you "know things".  That comes in handy when your beautiful Granddaughter damages her gorgeous evening gown at the Prom.

When you are dealing with either making gathers or repairing them the basic thing I was taught was to begin with a basting stitch and then to place a second one about 1/4" from the first.  For this project I decided to use a single row of hand sewn basting stitches because of the lightness and the frailty of the fabric.  Due to the color of the fabric, it's sheerness and so forth I made a sample to share with you on a tea towel using contrasting embroidery floss.  The second challenge was to do this and not pucker or have to disassemble the entire shirt.  Because of the yards of fabric involved I choose to do the entire process by hand rather than by machine and to use a double strand of embroidery floss for the gathers and the stitching.  But only a single row of baste because it is such a frail fabric. 

After I completed the basting I pulled ever so gently until I achieved the correct amount of fullness in the ruffle and to be able to re-pin it to the exact place it was to begin with.  Next I secured everything with straight pins.  I left the ends free but wound the loose portion around a straight pin for the time being lest I need to make some adjustments.

Lastly I hand sewed the ruffle back into position using a tight running stitch and pulling the thread in small stitches all of the way through the underlining.  There you are good as new!

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