Start Guide - Brother 1034d User Manual

Gathering Foot Quick Start Guide
Fabric
separater
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12
Your serger gathering foot is designed to be used to gather fabric that is
placed under the foot or to gather one fabric into another (shirring) by
placing a second fabric through the slot and above the separator plate.
The gathering foot accelerates the gather produced by the differential feed
dog creating beautiful ruffles and gathers in light to midweight fabrics .
Getting Ready
Always test a strip of your fabric first to determine the rate at which it
will gather.
Settings:
For optimum gathering, use 4 threads (both needles), set your differential
to 2, your stitch length to 4 and your presser foot pressure to light to
moderate pressure .
The numbers on the differential dial represent the rate at which the
differential (front) feed dog is feeding into the take up (rear) feed dog.
The number 2 represents that the differential is feeding at a ratio of 2 to 1.
If you wish to use the serger to less fully gather fabric, simply adjust the
differential down and test a strip of the fabric you will be using .
• The differential will gather different fabrics at different rates according
to the fabric's weight and finish. Always test strips of your fabric before
gathering.
• Gathers may be adjusted within the length of the gathered strip .
• You may create lovely single layer ruffles by first serging a rolled edge to
your fabric to be ruffled and gathering the opposite edge .
Adapting your pattern or plan for serger gathering
Because the serger is a different way to gather, you may have to plan your
sewing a little differently. Creating an exact fitting gather is difficult.
Therefore, we suggest that you take the time to look at your project and
fabric to see what changes you may need to make before you start.
First, test a strip of your fabric by measuring the length of the strip before
and after gathering . Compare the two and you will know the best ratio
that you can achieve with that fabric.
Hint: Gather fabric or ruffle to a base fabric and finish seams last.
Shirring a skirt into a bodice or waistline.
Choose a pattern with straight seam lines on the sides that will be joined
with the serger such as side seams, lowe r bodice seam, hem and waistline .
Then measure your skirt fabric pattern at th e waist and compare it to the
measurement of the bodice you will be gathering the fabric to. Compare
this to the ratio of your test strip . This will help you to determine if your
fabric is suitable and will give you enough fullness to successfully serger
gather the pattern and fabric that you are planning to use .
You may gather your skirt directly onto the bodice (shirring) or gather the
waistline first and fit it to the bodice and sew or serge the two together in
a second step.
If you decide to gather and seam in one step, cut your fabric according to
the pattern at the top and bottom but adding several inches in width . This
extra fabric will allow you some flexibility when serger gathering. Serge the
skirt to the bodice and trim excess from the sides making sure that you are
cutting equal amounts from top to bottom.