Sewing 101: Gathering

We are moving right along with our little sewing lessons. Today we are going to do  the gather. You know ruffling. So here is the deal with gathering. There is a "correct" way to do it. Then there is the way I typically do it. So gathering is pretty simple, but since you certainly haven't ever seen the "right" way done her by me before I thought I would show you the proper way to get a perfectly even gather every time. Sound good? 

 Alright we will start with the base piece (the purple) and the piece we will gather. (the floral) For this little lesson I did a two times gather which means my gather piece is twice as wide as the base piece. For a fuller gather you could make the gather piece wider and for a less full gather you would make it less wide. Simple enough?

 Ok now you will be sewing a basting stitch. I talk about it a lot but don't show you what it is. So a basting stitch is just a fancy way of saying a long stitch width. You know how the stitch width is how long each stitch is? Well for a basting stitch you just want to select the longest stitch you can. For my machine this means sliding the stitch width down to the 5 where are a normal stitch width for me is about a 2.5

 Then sew two lines fairly close together and near the edge of the top, you wish to gather. Leave the thread hanging off long on both ends of the stitch and do not back stitch.

 Then match up the middle of the base piece and the middle of the gather piece and pin them together in the middle.

 Next pin each side in place.

 Then pick up the two top threads leaving the bottom ones alone and simply pull the strings as you sort of push the fabric to gather it. You will see the gather forming.

 Spread the gather out evenly from the side to the middle point.

 Then go ahead and repeat on the other side and You will have a nice and evenly gathered piece. The two lines help to keep everything neat and uniform. Then simply set your stitch width to normal and sew through both layers just below the second line.

There you have it a pretty new gather, done the correct way no less. If you have never gathered the right way, or are new to gathering all together give it a try, you will be pleased with how easy it is, and how well it turns out.