Many items of clothing you sew need gathers. There may be puckering on the sleeves, on a men's shirt, most commonly, on a long layered skirt. To sew the fabric so that it creates gathers, you need to gather the edge to create the curls and arrange it neatly in any area of the dress that needs the gathers. It's not as easy as it sounds, because gathering the curl neatly can be difficult and time-consuming. But with this guide, you'll be able to make the perfect gathers to liven up any garment!
Steps
Method 1 of 2: By Hand
Step 1. Thread a needle with a thread that is at least one foot longer than the length that the curl will take
For example, if you need to curl a ribbon that is 8 inches long, you will need at least 20 inches of thread. Tie a knot at the end of your thread.
Step 2. Sew 3-4mm (1/4 inch) straight stitch along the edge to be gathered
Pull lightly to slide the material in small waves / folds towards the end with the thread knot as you sew the straight stitch. When all of your material has been "gathered" to the length you want, tie your thread tightly.
Method 2 of 2: Machine
Step 1. Stretch your machine stitch to the longest stitch setting possible
Step 2. Just loosen the tension of the upper thread (the one that goes through the needle)
Step 3. Sew two lines / seams close to the edge of your fabric
-
Image Second line parallel to the first. Be careful to sew parallel lines that don't cross. Leave some long thread at the end of each seam.
Step 4.
Tie the lower (bobbin) threads into a firm knot. Knot the lower (bobbin) threads together at one end of the area to be gathered.
Step 5. Slightly pull the lower (bobbin) threads to the other side, and carefully slide the fabric towards your knot, forming waves / folds
When your fabric has been "gathered" to the required length, tie the ends of the gathers tightly together.
Step 6. Tidy up your curl by moving the "clumped" areas away from each other and towards the smoother parts of your parallel strands
Advice
- Use a strong thread, such as Coats & Clark. Less expensive brands will break much easier and you will have to do the job all over again.
- Using zigzag stitches, and lightly pulling the bobbin thread, can make curls by sewing only one row of zigzag stitches. Try out the width and length of the zigzag stitches you want.
- To make the finished piece last longer, sew the gathered piece to the fabric twice - once at the seam line and the other between 1/4 and 1/8 inch in bleed. It will avoid forcing on the sewing line which could loosen the curl.
- To make it easier to place the curls neatly, before gathering find the center of the hedgehog by folding the piece of fabric in two from end to end and make a dot in the center of the piece, inside the bleed so that you are not visible in the finished piece; then fold the dissected halves in half and make another dot in the center of each. You can do this as many times as you want. When the piece is gathered you can tell by the distance between the points if you have neatly spaced curls. When you pin the gathered piece to the fabric, pin the side seams, one in the center, and then pin the points that mark the centers of the small sections, etc., until the piece is firmly in place.
- Very long sections * of curl should be divided into several smaller parts, to avoid the frustration of the thread breaking. * Over 20 - 24 inches.
- To keep the curls neatly spaced apart as you sew, use basting to hold them in place. It can be done by hand or machine using a long stitch and lowering the pressure of the conveyors to slide fabric and pins more smoothly through the area to be sewn. If the pressure is too high, the gathered fabric can slip together and make the piece lumpy. After basting then put the presser foot pressure back into place as normal and remove the pins as the basting stitches will hold the curls in place. This basting line sometimes gets a bit crooked depending on how small the piece of fabric you are working on, such as sewing a sleeve into an arm. After basting, look at the piece from the right side and check if the curls are neat. If they aren't, you can cut the basting from the smooth side of the seam (not the curled side that will likely be hidden by the curls), re-stitch and stitch back the section you want to fix. If the basting stitches are visible after completing the final seam, they are easy to remove because they are a long stitch under which an awl or a pair of scissors can pass to cut the thread without touching the fabric.
- When you sew the gathering to the dress, flatten the areas that will be in the side seams so that the fabric will lie flat at that point and prevent the gathering from getting caught in the seams.
- It is much easier to hem for a curl before gathering it.
