Gathering speed

I have been feeling a little under the weather today, a mix of a cold coming on and a chest infection. I am off to see the doctor tomorrow, but until then I thought I would do some sewing to cheer me up and help me to feel better. 

So, this evening I have been mostly sewing the layers of my petticoat by hand.  I attempted to machine sew it, but it didn't quite work. I love my sewing machine, it is sturdy and mostly reliable. However the major draw back I have with it is that it does not have a longer running stitch (to help with things like gathering).  It has a stitch that is a little longer than the regular stitch but this ended up eating some of my lovely tuile. A little patchwork and mending later, I got to work sewing the lengths and lengths of beautiful teal tuile. I'm almost there, but there is a lot of tuile! 

 The mess of (almost-all-gathered) tuile on my living room floor

I should finish the gathering shortly, then I need to pin and sew the tiers together. (There are 3 in total, so not that many at all). Tomorrow I need to go in search of some twill tape for the top seam. 
Hopefully it will turn out, I have never attempted to make a petticoat before - I hope my calculations were right and it ends up being the right length! 
I intend on posting pics of the finished item, and also the lovely dress that I finished a while ago. 
It's almost sleepytime, so I will post my progress soon. 
Night all.