Costumes: July 2011 Archives

Janome Pintuck Foot

Pintucks are a delightfully simple detail that really bring together a garment or provide that finishing detail that helps a garment to shine. Pintucks are small pleats in the fabric that provide texture and delicate detail to fabrics. When hand sewn pintucks are tedious but worth it, as you must fold the fabric and stitch very close to the fold for an extended length. However, pintucks with the Janome Pintuck Feet are a breeze.

My machine threaded with 2 spools and a twin needle

I learned lot when learning about and practicing with the pintuck feet. Not only did I learn how to sew pintucks but I also learned to sew with twin needles (this was my first application with twin needles) and how to thread 2 spools on my machine (check your manual for instruction specific to your machine). It was pretty neat to learn so many new things about my machine and really opened my eyes. I practiced a lot to develop my pintuck sewing technique. The packaging suggests placing a thin cord under your fabric to promote the pintuck but the Janome Video demonstrated that you don't need to use the cord. From my practice I learned that it helps to hold the fabric taught and not to give it much slack. I thought that if I just loosely guided the fabric then the tucks would develop on their own and this is true to a point. But if you give too much slack the tucks get sloppy. You want to treat it similar to sewing a seam. You want to hold your fabric tight and guide it straight just like with a seam you want to keep straight and together. Don't give the fabric too much head and let it have its way. You might think that it needs slack to puff up a bit between the needles but you will like the results much better if you give it less lack and keep it reined in. It is also important to line up your twin needles with the foot grooves with the needle coming down on either side of the groove so the fabric will be encouraged to puff up into the groove. Use the bigger grooved foot for medium to light weight fabric and then narrowed grooved foot for very light weight fabric, like sheers and silks. I used the bigger grooved foot for my quilting cotton and the tucks are just right.