To learn to smock, I have several books and was practicing my stitches on a small swatch of pleated fabric given to me by a friend. However, to be able to use my own fabric, I needed a pleater. Well, this is my birthday weekend and hubby bought me the Read 24 row pleater. It has a ton of needles ... threading anyone? It works like a mangle and you roll your fabric thru the needles to get your pleats. I still have to watch the DVD, thread those needles and then I probably need hubby to get me a wooden dowel to roll my fabric on as I send it thru the rollers. I am excited to learn this new machine and technique. I will be posting photos when I get it all set up and start working with it. My daughter (who claims to hate all things sewing) gave me a book "Treasury of Smocking Designs" for my birthday so I have some patterns to try. I love hand sewing and this will help to keep my fingers nimble.
Marty