Perfect Gathers

If your skirt is wider than your bodice, you have three choices.

1. Pleats

2. Darts

3. Gathers.


Learning to make beautiful gathers is easy and a very rewarding way of making a garment extra lovely.

First, you must have a sewn skirt. If you don't have a sewn skirt, sew your skirt first.


Step 1:

Yes, I cheated. I used another picture that doesn't quite apply to this step. See the presser foot? You want it right along the raw edge of fabric. (About 1/4" to the right in that picture)

With your stitch LENGTH at its longest, stitch around the entire skirt (unless it's wider than 90" total. If it is wider, then see the full skirt tutorial).

When you get to where you started, stop! Pivot the needle, take a couple of stitches down into the skirt, pivot again, and then stitch back around the skirt 3/8" away from the first stitching. At the starting point, pull enough thread away with the garment to give you some to pull.

This should be what it looks like when you're done.


Step 2:

With two threads from the SAME SIDE OF THE FABRIC (usually the bobbin side), pull the gathering threads gently, sliding the fabric along the threads. Don't let yourself jerk too hard. You don't want to break those threads.














What you want to do is gather the fabric enough to be able to tie it off the same width as the bodice.






I tie all four threads together when I do this.



Look closely. Can you see where I stitched back to where I started, sewed down, and then went back again?

Do you see it?


Simple isn't it?





Step 3:

Next, shift the gathers until the side seams are at each side of the skirt evenly.

Then, start sliding those gathers around until there are no blank spots-- no bunchy spots. Just sit back, slide it around, and get it to where you want it.






See! All even.


To sew to your garment, sew at 3/8"-5/8" (depending on your style and seam allowance built into the pattern). You want to sew between those two rows of stitching because then you get a perfect gather.

You will have to remove the lower gathering threads. But, it's totally worth that work to ensure that you have perfect gathers. They look so nice!



And, if you're making a flat-felled skirt seam, this is the very best way to ensure even gathers without too many flat spots with that technique.

This works for sleeves, (upper and around cuffs) skirts, shirring-- anything that requires gathers!