Sewing: How to Gather the Easy Way

Created On: June 7, 2012 | Updated: August 19, 2020 | 52 Comments

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This is by fast the best gathering hack. If you are sewing big pieces of fabric like with princess dresses or even some curtains this trick is a life saver.

hands down the best trick for gathering fabric on the sewing machine - Rae Gun Ramblings

Today I’m going in on The Summer of Skills series over at Brassy Apple. I’m sharing my trick to how I gather all those princess dresses I make for my nieces and that upcycled tank dress that I shared in this weeks What We Wore, Read and Made Link Party post.

It saves me tones of time and frustration. I hope you’ll pop over and take a peek.

If you’re visiting from Brassy Apple welcome it’s great to have you. I hope you’ll hang out for a little bit. If you need some places to start here are some of my favorite posts for the Summer.

Fabric Painted Dresses – great to do with the kiddos and then you’ll have something they can wear and brag about and of course you can make anything not just dresses from your own fabric.

Cheesecake Factory Knock Off Bread – you know that brown bread at the Cheesecake Factory? Yeah we were obsessed so I hacked the recipe and I think I did a pretty good job.

Glass Tile Pendants – I took one of my favorite book covers and made it into a fan necklace but this would be great for pictures or any other memento that can be put on paper

Book Suggestions for the Men Folk – I’m a huge reader and I know sometimes the YA books are geared towards girls and pumped full of romance but these are 10 books that I think the guys would enjoy too. I loved them all

UPDATED with tutorial below

I am so excited to be apart of Megan’s Summer of Skills. Today I want to share with you a really handy way to gather if you are working with a lot of of fabric or heavy fabric. Most of you who sew probably have been taught to gather by pulling basting stitches.

To do it right and save you trouble in case one thread breaks you’re usually told to do two rows of basting stitches and pull. That works like a charm for sleeves and other small pieces but when I’m doing a skirt I find that method to be a pain and I usually end up snapping both threads any ways.

What I do instead is zig zag over a piece of crochet thread and then just pull to gather.

Since the crochet thread is thicker you don’t have to worry about it breaking and you have tons of control so you can distribute the gathers much more evenly without worrying that everything will come undone.

First grab yourself some crochet thread. Set your sewing machine to a nice big zig zag I usually do 4 for the length and 5 for the width.

What you want is a nice big zig zag that will go over the crochet thread without you having to be too careful.

Then lay the thread where you want the gathers and start to sew making sure not to have the needle touch the crochet thread and making sure you back stitch at the beginning and end.

When you reach the end of what you need to gather cut the crochet thread leaving a long tail.

Then pull to gather. Tie or tack down the ends with a pin and distribute the gathers as desired. And that’s how to gather the easy way!

I used this on tons of dresses for my nieces as well as for my quick and upcycled tank top dress shown above that has somewhat become my Summer uniform because they are so easy to make and comfy to wear especially when gathering like this.

Here are some projects I’ve used this technique with but really anything with a lot of gathering like curtains, clothing, aprons, etc. would be a perfect project for this.

How to Gather the Easy Way

a wonderful tutorial on how to gather a full skirt

Instructions

zig zag over a piece of crochet thread and then just pull to gather. Since the crochet thread is thicker you don’t have to worry about it breaking and you have tons of control so you can distribute the gathers much more evenly without worrying that everything will come undone.
First grab yourself some crochet thread. Set your sewing machine to a nice big zig zag I usually do 4 for the length and 5 for the width. What you want is a nice big zig zag that will go over the crochet thread without you having to be too careful.
Then lay the thread where you want the gathers and start to sew making sure not to have the needle touch the crochet thread and making sure you back stitch at the beginning and end. When you reach the end of what you need to gather cut the crochet thread leaving a long tail.
Then pull to gather. Tie or tack down the ends with a pin and distribute the gathers as desired. And that’s how to gather the easy way!

Love this recipe?Follow @RaeGunRamblings or tag #RaeGunRamblings!

Want another great sewing trick? Check out my secret to hemming knits!

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