This is a Whiting & Davis mesh bag from the 1920's. Mesh bags were hugely popular at that time. You could buy them practically everywhere. Even the Sears catalog had a selection.Look how small these purses were though! Can you imagine trying to carry your stuff in one these days? My modern purse is at least five times bigger. Of course, young ladies didn't carry as much. Perhaps some calling cards, a hanky, and maybe some lipstick. You didn't have to carry much money. All your regular stores would have your account and you would have everything put to it and pay later.
I think these bags are beautiful and have three of them in a display case where I can enjoy them.
Today we'll move beyond the basic ruffle. You're probably an expert with them by now and getting bored. Today's ruffles will solve that. And by the end, there won't be a ruffle you can't do.
Instead of putting the fabric you want the ruffle sewn on through the Ruffler, put it completely under the foot. (I removed the fabric for ruffling for the photo then put it back in afterwards). It helps to mark the stitch line.
Once both pieces of fabric are positioned, lower the foot, and sew while guiding the ruffle fabric through the Ruffler and the other one under the foot.
The finished piece will be a ruffle with a heading attached to the fabric. You can make row upon row of these--overlapping or not. I've seen these lately on blouses and skirts and used to see small ones on the backs of diaper covers for girls.
If you didn't like sewing it on the fabric at the same time, then make the ruffle separately and then sew it on. 
I pulled the ruffles back so you can see the bottom pink ruffle has a tiny heading and is sewn on top of the cap sleeve. The print ruffle is done the same.
Put the fabric you want the ruffle sewn to under the foot, lower the foot, and sew. As usual guide everything through.
This isn't difficult. Guide the fabric with your left hand and the ruffle with your right hand.
A center sewn ruffle:
Your ruffle can be two inches wide or smaller but not wider if you want the stitching down the center. You can, of course, make a ruffle with a one inch heading on top of a very wide ruffle too. I've seen these ruffles done in tiny widths a lot lately on dresses and blouses. If you make a tiny one you might have trouble centering it since there isn't a guide for that--try marking the center line of the fabric strip first. And, as always, you can make up ruffle strips separately and then sew them on to things. The one in the very top photo, I did this way.
What if you want a wider heading on a ruffle? That's where you might run into problems unless you happen to have the Shirring Plate attachment that was sold separately for use with the Ruffler. I don't have one, but here's a picture of it:
The shirring plate was hooked to the bed of the sewing machine and the separator blade was removed from the Ruffler before attaching it. This was handy for home decor types of ruffles.
You can sew the binding down flat when you're done if you want. Yes, purple and red--I'm using scraps.
Turn the seam to the wrong side of the item--right sides will be together now. Pressing it a bit helps. Take the Ruffler off the machine and put the regular presser foot on and sew the seam together.
So incredibly simple! You're now an expert at covering the unfinished edges of your ruffles.
These paper dolls were given to me by my next door neighbor's daughter twenty years ago. Her mother and aunt had been children in the 1920's and had cut these figures out of a magazine and played with them as paper dolls. The names, Marie and Helena, are written on the back of some. I tend to think their mother or someone helped cut them out--they're done very precisely.
I always wondered what magazine they originally came from. Then when I was perusing blogs the other day I came across 
Cut down, faced waistband, shortened zipper, and cut some of the flare out. It ended up a nice casual skirt.
A strangely overbright photo of me wearing it in the garden as I survey the weeds.
For the facing cut a piece of fabric on the crossgrain or bias however wide you want-- 1 1/2 inches works well. You can use premade packaged bias for a facing too.
The facing does not go through the bottom separator guide but over it on the above piece of metal and into the back of the foot.
It's tricky guiding this many pieces through the foot. I find it easiest to hold the fabrics in my right hand and the facing in my left. I had to sew slowly to keep them aligned.
When done you'll have a facing that you can press and sew down with the regular presser foot to cover the unfinished edges (trim these down if you need to).
I put this one on the right side:
I'm pausing here to have a laugh because this next one really amuses me. The Singer people were very optimistic about the abilities of the home seamstress sometimes. If you thought running three things through the Ruffler might prove challenging, try four.
Put the fabric being sewn on in the foot and also the ruffle fabric. Push the piping bias into the slot of the guide with the fold to the left. Now take the bias (facing) and put it on top over the piping and under the small projection in the guide and into the foot. Catch the ends and pull them with a straight pin if needed to get the piping and bias pieces into the foot. Have the ends of everything (fabric, ruffle, piping, and bias) under the needle. Don't forget to lower the foot. 
Here's everything in the Ruffler:
The piping piece feeds itself in. You have to manage the rest. Sew slowly. I had to stop every couple of inches to straighten the bottom fabric since it tends to get pulled askew by the ruffle. It's slow going at first. (The reason my ruffle looks slightly ruffley is because I messed one up and am reusing it for the demonstration).
This is one of those things that by the time you get the hang of it, you're done. When finished press the facing down and topstitch to cover all the unfinished edges. (As usual I didn't press my example--so lazy).
Go on give it a try! What could go wrong?--you mess up?--no big deal--we're playing with our feet!
Besides, it looks like that because it's such an ingenious device that can do so much. Really--it can. So much that I've had to break the posts I'm writing up into manageable amounts and have four of them, and that is just doing ruffles--this thing makes pleats too!
First lets get your Ruffler in working order. It needs oiling on three points. You can see these in the above picture. Hold the back with one hand and the fork arm with the other. Try and move the fork arm to get the oil worked in. Wipe it off after oiling.
Ruffle See the adjusting lever in the front with a star, 12, 6, and 1 on it? The star is for disengaging the ruffler for straight stitch sewing. Ignore the 6 and 12 for now. The 1 is for ruffling. Pull the lever up and set it down with the projection at the 1.
Underneath the adjusting screw is a small lever called the adjusting finger. You don't want it under the screw for ruffling (it's for pleats). Push it to the side.
Remember back when I used the narrow hemmer and suggested for practice that you make several long strips with a hem on one side and keep them? If you did that get out those strips--we'll use them for practice in the Ruffler on the unhemmed side. If not, get a strip of fabric.
You are now ready to sew a ruffle. We'll set the fullness of the ruffle in a moment. I want you to see how easy ruffling is, so lets take a few stitches. Don't forget to lower the foot. Sew for an inch or two. Keep the fabric edge against the inner edge of the separator guide.
Simple wasn't it? If you noticed, the ruffling blade moves with each stitch, so if you have your stitch length set high you'll get a fuller ruffle than if you have your stitch length set low. Find the adjusting screw on the Ruffler. If it is mostly unscrewed you will only get a hint of fullness in the ruffle. Tightening it down will produce a fuller ruffle.
For practice sew a few inches with the adjusting screw upward in its setting. Stop every few inches and tighten it some to see the difference it makes in the fullness of the ruffle. Adjust the stitch length too to see how that affects your ruffle. After playing with the Ruffler, go ahead and set it for how full you want your practice ruffles to be--I suggest not too full at this time--it'll be easier and you'll use less fabric.
Take the fabric you want to ruffle and put it through the separator guide with the other fabric, but go through the blue steel blades.
Before you start sewing be aware that these two pieces of fabric are not going to go through the foot at the same rate. The one being ruffled is going to be moving faster than the flat one. You can try and hold the edges even together and see how that works for you.
I find it easiest to hold the two fabrics together but separated by my index finger:
When done your ruffle will be attached to the fabric all in one step.
Does that unfinished edge on the back bother you? 
If you have a zig zag machine you could of course zig zag over it. But if you don't like that option you're in luck--the Singer book gives several ways to eliminate the unfinished edge (even while sewing the ruffle to the fabric). I'll post two tomorrow and more next week on Tuesday.