The Proper Method of Gathering Fabric: Gathers Are Soft Folds of Fabric Formed by Pulling

The Proper Method of Gathering Fabric: Gathers are soft folds of fabric formed by pulling up BASTING stitches to make the fabric fit into a smaller space. EASING (another form of gathers) allows fabric to be shaped over a curved area of the body. Easing should not create any visible folds or gathers.

First, change the stitch length on your machine from a standard stitch length (such as 2.5) to the longest possible (such as a 5). This will help the fabric gather more quickly. And you’re ready to sew.

 Place the presser foot about 1/8 or 1/4 inch in from the edge of the fabric. You don’t want to forward or back stitch at the beginning of the stitch (as you normally would). Make sure you have a long tail of thread.  Sew a straight line all the way down, parallel to the edge of your fabric.

Don’t forward and back stitch at the end of your line as well. It’s important to leave both ends of your stitching “open” so you can adjust the gathering as needed. Leave a long tail of thread this end too.  Sew a 2nd line about 1/8 or 1/4 inch over from the first line. And then for even more precision, sew a 3rd line as well. Make sure you don’t cross the streams! (don’t cross the sewing paths of your lines)

Grab either all three top threads OR all three bottom threads. It doesn’t matter which ones you choose as long as you stick to one or the other the whole time. I find that a seam ripper or something thin is an easy way to separate the threads (make sure you don’t cut any threads however). Hold all the top (or bottom) threads with one hand and push the fabric over with the other hand. You’ll see the fabric easily gather up!

Continue gathering, pushing, and shifting the fabric till you have evenly spaced gathers–and the fabric is the length needed for your pattern.

Don’t cut the long thread tails till your gathered piece is sewn in place–otherwise all the gathers will fall out.When sewing the gathered area into a garment, typically the garment seam is wide enough that it will cover and hide the gathered lines. If it’s not, however, and some of the lines are exposed on the outside of your garment, no problem. Once the piece is securely sewn in, use a seam ripper to remove the old gathered lines–since they’re no longer holding the gathers in place.