How to make gathers?

In this tutorial, I show you how to make gathers using a sewing machine or an overlocker.

The gathers are used, among other things, to give fullness and ease to a work, but also to assemble ruffles. They are made by hand or by machine.

1) Make gathers with the sewing machine

Gathering is very easy, it's just a matter of method. With a sewing machine, you have 3 different techniques.

Gathering threads

It involves sewing two parallel lines with a long stitch length and very low tension. Be careful, you must not make a breakpoint because you will then have to pull on the threads to gather the fabric. Also leave a lot of thread at the beginning and end of the seam, this will make the work easier afterwards. The first gather line is usually sewn 0.5cm from the edge and the second 1.5cm. Once the two lines of gathers have been sewn, you will have to distribute them: a real challenge. The trick is to divide your fabric into several equal parts (see video) with pins. This will split the strip of fabric to be gathered and will precisely allow a better distribution of the gathers. You can now pull on the gathering threads and distribute them well in the parts previously delimited by the pins. You can then make a figure 8 with the gather threads around the pins to block them. It is now time to proceed with the assembly seam (restoring a standard stitch length as well as the tension) 1 cm from the edge, between the two lines of gathers. And now, voila.

Gathering foot

The Gathering Foot, as its name suggests, is a special sewing machine foot that can be used to create gathers. You can get it in haberdashery or in specialized stores. Once the foot is installed, you need to set your sewing machine with maximum stitch length and very low tension. You position the fabric under the gathering foot (and not in the slit) and you sew. The intensity of the gathers will be based on the stitch length you have given. The advantage is that the gathers are done by themselves, the disadvantage is that you do not control the length of your fabric at the end, which is annoying because most of the time, the gathered piece matches another non-gathered piece with a specific length.

However, this can be useful for accessories or large bands that would form a flounce at the bottom of the skirt, for example.

The slit of the gathering foot is used to slide the second fabric which should not be gathered but joined to the gathered piece. So in a single pass, you gather your fabric and assemble it to another piece of fabric.

Gathers with elastic

This method is particularly useful for sleeve cuffs, for example. The little trick is not to cut its elastic but just to make a mark at the requested size. This will give you a better grip. Then you position the fabric on the wrong side with the elastic on top. We advise you to order with a few zig zag stitches to properly assemble the two materials. The advantage of the zig zag stitch is that it is elastic. A straight stitch seam could jump on the first tension. Then you have to grab the two materials after the presser foot with one hand and guide the fabric to come with the other while putting the elastic under tension. The mark you marked must reach the end of your piece of fabric. Move slowly, make a stop point and cut your elastic. The secret is to keep the same tension in the elastic throughout your seam, in order to have very regular gathers. That's it !

2) Make gathers with the serger

The simple overlock

With a serger, you can gather with a single serger. You must first set the differential to 2, and the length and a stitch width to the maximum. You can also lock the knife if you want. Sew. You get a gathered piece, but just like with the sewing machine gathering foot, you have no control over its length. You can then pull the needle threads to gather a little more and get the size you want. The advantage is that your gathers are immediately well distributed and all you have to do is join the gathered piece to the non-gathered one.

Gathering foot for serger

The operation is the same as with the gathering foot of a sewing machine. After attaching the serger gathering foot, you position the fabric under the foot and away you go. The serger settings should be the same as in the previous step. We advise you to move slowly because the fabric tends to move a lot.

As with the sewing machine gathering foot, it is possible to gather and sew at the same time: you slide the fabric to be gathered all over the foot and the fabric that should not be gathered into the slot of the foot and then you sew. Again, it's quite tricky to handle all the fabrics at the same time, but if you take your time, you should get there.

3) Which method to choose?

At ikatee, we find that a gathering foot is not really essential, even if it can be very time-consuming when you do not have a very precise length of gathering to respect. Again, it depends on your usage and your sewing projects.

Choose the most suitable method according to your project!