I’ll admit I [HEART] gathers, and I love doing them with the machine… the classic, two-thread method.
Some people freak out about this. Maybe they’ve never been taught good tips to make machine gathers go quickly and come out looking fantastic. This makes me sad, so I’m sharing those tips with you so you can march forward bravely.
These tips will work for most any gathering you need to do, whether making ruffles or setting in a full sleeve head.
If you’re making ruffles, my tips here for creating and gathering them will be of use.
-Run the two basting rows on either side of the seam line – NOT on the seam line like so many instructions say to do. I like to go 1/8″ on either side. Run the widest row first (the one further away from the raw edge.
-Loosen the tension of the thread. This is really important for ease of pulling up the threads to create the gathers. Many “normal” tension settings are between 4 and 6; for gathering, use between 2 and 4.
-About 80% of gathering will be done in a way where you place right sides together, pull up the gathering stitches and sew. For the easiest method, run your machine basting stitches with the fabric RIGHT side up. This places the bobbin thread on the back side of the fabric. For easiest gathering PULL UP THE BOBBIN THREAD to gather. Pulling up the top thread will be more difficult. This is why you loosen the tension and so the bobbin thread will be easier to pull out, which creates the gathers.
-After you pull up the threads evenly and together, don’t knot them to hold the gathers in place. Instead, place a pin right at the start of the basting stitches and wrap the threads around it in a figure 8. This method makes it super easy to readjust the gathers if you need more or less of the fabric pulled up. Plus, it makes it easy to pull out the basting stitches after sewing. Oh – and be sure to stroke the gathers before sewing.
–Sewing: just before the needle reaches the figure 8, pull out that starting pin and pull on the threads to release the 8. Continue to sew into the gathered area. Repeat at the ending figure 8. To remove basting stitches after sewing, gently pull out the bobbin threads you initially pulled to create the gathers.
Be cautious when using very tightly woven fabric such as silk taffeta (above photo). The needle can puncture the fabric creating holes. The gathering line just outside the seam line is most at risk here. After removing the gathering stitches those holes may still be visible.
If this happens, my trick is to gently work the fabric on the bias between my hands to get the fabric threads to work back into an even, woven formation. This works most of the time; however, some needle holes are difficult (or impossible) to completely remove from tightly woven fabrics.
Now, let’s get to gathering!!
Your tutorial on machine gathering provides excellent tips to achieve beautiful ruffles and gathers with ease. Your thorough explanation of running two rows of basting stitches on either side of the seam line and loosening the tension makes the process much more manageable. The tip to pull up the bobbin thread for gathering is ingenious.
I admit I cringe when I see a pattern calls for gathers because I know it will take me forever to get them to look just right (or even good enough.) But your tips on tension and stoking the gathers have been very, very helpful! Thank you, so much!
You are quite welcome! No more cringing. 🙂