oh, and one more thing/tip: I did not prewash my fabric--the care instructions are to air dry, so I decided I could live with a little bit of shrinkage, but I don't expect any. I just thought after washing, this stuff would be impossible to get to cooperate.

Here's the tip : After you have cut your strips, and they are all folded nice and neat, don't unfold them to look at how pretty they are and let them end up in a messy pile (don't ask me how I know! ). It will be much easier if you leave them folded and use them one by one that way--this way you can just feed them through the ruffler without having to work with them to keep them from getting twisted on the way through--this goes along with the tip about making sure they curl to the bottom as you feed them through the ruffler. I did it both ways, and it is much easier if you pay attention to this before you start