Fun with the new Janome

The new machine arrived a month ago and I've no regrets on my spur of the moment purchase. Sure, my 12-year-old Elna is still a good machine. But the new one runs smoother, has an alphabet and a good instruction manual that's taught me new ways to do many a sewing technique. And....it's a got a bit of pink/purple in the design.

Above is one item recently finished on the new machine: a new night gown based on Burda's 02-2009-122. (small inset photo from magazine) The green flanellette was in the stash. I purchased matching yellow for the waistband. For our long winters, I needed long sleeves so that meant loosing the coordinating color on the armbands. So I decided to make some trim from the coordinating yellow fabric for along the bottom of the skirt. I've seen more and more pleated ribbon trim on RTW clothes. So I cut narrow strips of yellow fabric, sewed them together and finished the edges with a rolled hem. Then I set my ruffler foot to make pleats and fed the trim into it. I'm rather pleased with the trim since this is my first time using the ruffler foot for a garment using pleats. The ruffler is a great tool but it does take a bit to learn how to use it. Here's a link to a helpful, free resource, The Ruffler...Unruffled.