Todays post is on how to gather fabric. If you are used to sewing pretty girl dresses for the DD and other sweet girls in your life you must have certainly come across a step that required you to gather fabric. I mean, almost every dress pattern requests for some gathering or ruffles. This tutorial will show you the best option for gathering fabrics. Different techniques work better for light fabrics and heavier fabrics so we have laid out a few options below.

Actually, gathered fabric can be used for ruffles and frills in tees, blouses, jackets, and coats, it adds fullness to sleeves, and interest to pillows and aprons. At the end of the article, we have a full list of Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop patterns where you gather fabric.

What Does it Mean to Gather Fabric?

The first question should be what does it mean to gather fabric? Well, gathering fabric is a way of bringing fabric together so to create a slight bunch of fabric. It’s used heavily on the waist of skirts or dresses, shirts, sleeves, etc. You can do it by hand or, more commonly, with a sewing machine. Gathering fabric is an essential sewing technique commonly used on garments, home décor, and upholstery designs.

In fact, there are several ways to gather and everyone seems to have a favorite. For some home seamstresses, gathering is easy-peasy whilst for some, it is a very intimidating step. Making those gathers look perfect even may be a nerve-wracking job sometimes… But it doesn’t have to be! Gathering is in fact one of the most basic and simple sewing techniques.

We are going to look at a few different ways of how to gather fabric!

8 Ways of How to Gather Fabric | Make Gathering Fabric Easier

#1 Way How to Gather Fabric: Single Thread Gathers

Set your machine to the longest length (a 4 or 5, it is called a basting stitch). Sew a straight line all the way down parallel to the edge of the fabric. Make sure to leave long tails at the beginning and end. Do not backstitch on both ends!

Pull the bobbin thread – hold the fabric on one end and pull from the other. If it is a long length then pull from one end to the middle and then pull from the other end. Adjust the gathers. Tie the threads on both ends so the gathering will stay. You’re done!

Note: Do not cut the tails until this piece of gathered fabric is sewn in place or the gathers will fall out

#2 Way to Gather Fabric: Single Thread with Tight Tension on your Sewing Machine

Set your machine settings for the greatest length number (usually 5) and for tension 9/10 (note: do not change the tension on the bobbin thread). Sew a basting line with these settings and your fabric will gather on its own as you sew. Wonderful, isn’t it?

However, this doesn’t work for every sewing machine… Being that the case you can try to add to the tension just a bit by holding the thread a bit tighter with your (right) hand next to the spool. (Note: You have to hold it a bit loose or it will snap.)

This works wonders for lightweight fabric and it’s the greatest method for making lots of ruffled stripes (fabric or paper) with your sewing machine in a short time. This is not the best method if you need an exact measurement since you can’t control the amount of gathering.

#3 Way to Gather Fabric: Two Lines of Stitches

I would say this is the gathering method most seen in PDF patterns. It works just like method #1 (one straight stitch on the first row) but two parallel lines are sewn instead of one.

To gather fabric with this method, you sew a second line of stitches parallel to the first one. Hold the threads on one end with a center pin by tying them as an 8 around the pin. Pull the two bobbin threads. Smooth out the gathers from that end to the center until they are even. Tie the threads. Repeat on the other end.

When sewing this piece of gathered fabric in place – like sewing a gathered skirt to a bodice – make sure to sew with the gathers on top and go slowly, adjusting them with your fingers or carefully with the tip of the seam ripper.

You can sew this piece to the garment with both gathering stitches inside the seam allowance (SA) or by sewing it with one of the gathering stitches outside the SA. The latter is more likely to result in nicer and more even gathers.

#4 Way How to Gather Fabric: Three Lines of Stitches

This may be the most proper way to make a gather since it produces the most even and perfect gather of all methods by preventing the gathers from shifting while sewing. Sew two basting lines just as on method #3 and then add a third row of stitches parallel to the other two. Depending on your seam allowance you can make the stitching lines parallel by 1/4 or 1/8 inch.

Sew this piece of gathered fabric to a garment by stitching between the second and third rows of gathering. Once it is securely sewn in you can unpick the third row.

#5 Way How to Gather Fabric: Zig Zag Over Thread

Place a string, a cord, or a heavy-duty thread (or even dental floss!) on your fabric and right in the middle of your zigzag foot (for most machines this is the regular foot). Sew a wide zigzag stitch over the string, ensuring not to catch the string. The foot will keep the cord in its place.

Hold the fabric and pull the cord/string. The fabric will gather perfectly!

This method is great for ticker fabrics since there is no chance of breaking any threads and having to start all over. I use this method when gathering tweed or corduroy.

#6 Way How to Gather Fabric: Using a Gathering Foot

Attach your gathering foot (a type of presser foot) to your sewing machine. Set to the higher stitch length. Place the fabric underneath the presser foot and sew. The fabric will gather on its own while you sew with your machine.

You can also use this presser foot to gather a single layer of fabric while attaching it to a piece of non-gathered fabric at the same time! You just have to add the second piece of fabric (the one that will stay unruffled) in the foot’s slot (see image), the right sides facing, and sew. Note: make sure the upper piece of fabric (the unruffled one) stays in place (inside the slot) while you are sewing.

There are a couple more complex methods of gathering fabric that are not going to be covered in this tutorial:

#7 Way How to Gather Fabric: Using a Serger to Gather

This fabric gathering method works by using tight tension. Set the differential feed on your machine to number 2 and the length to the biggest number (4 or 5). Again, if you need an exact measurement of gathered fabric this may not be the best method.

You can also use a gathering foot for sergers too, like in #6.

#8 Way of Gathering Fabric Methods: Using a Ruffler Presser Foot

Using a ruffler presser foot takes a bit of hard work (and some math) but it is worth it. Have you used it? What are your thoughts? Shall I get one?

I am not sure if these are all the methods there are for gathering fabric and making pretty ruffles, but they are all I know of. Some are the “easy” methods and some are the “right” methods, but in the end, most of them produce similar gathering results.

Did you know all these ways to gather fabric? Have I missed any? Do you have any tips to sew gathers? Here’s a couple more resources for sewing clothing with gathered fabric:

Gathering Knit Fabric

Sara did an amazing job going over all the different ways to gather fabric. Her 8 different methods were demonstrated on woven fabric. Here at Peek-a-Boo and KnitFabric.com we obviously love working with knit fabric too.

So before we leave I want to point out that Alisha made an excellent tutorial for us on Gathering Knit Fabric. In this tutorial, she takes the Gloria Dress Pattern and shows us the best method to sew gathers with her sewing machine. Specifically, she sews two rows of basting stitches on her machine to get the gathering done and then shows how to serge the final product onto the skirt. This is an excellent tutorial for gathering knit fabric and will make your gathering fabric easier. So make sure you give it a look.

Other Patterns and Tutorials to Gather Fabric

Gathering fabric is so common and popular that we’ve had a number of other patterns and tutorials that have gone over it in the past. I’ll point out a few favorites:

1. How to Stabilize and Gather with Clear Elastic: In this tutorial, Stephanie shows us how any gathered dress can perform better and last longer when stabilized with Clear Elastic.
2. How to Add Ruffles to a Shirt: Use your new gathering skills to add ruffles to a shirt. Stephie B strikes again with this tutorial and gives great step-by-step instructions to gather fabric and create ruffles with the sewing machine.
3. How to Sew Gathered Sleeves: Nienke is here with this tutorial to show us how to modify a regular sleeve pattern to make a gathered sleeve. This technique can be used with a wide variety of different patterns.

Can you gather without using a sewing machine?

Yes, you can gather fabric without using a sewing machine. One popular method is to use hand stitching techniques such as running stitches or basting stitches. Simply sew along the edge of the fabric and then gently pull the thread to gather the fabric to your desired fullness.

Alright, that should give you enough material to become a pro at gathered fabric. For specific sewing patterns that use fabric gathering take a look at the Everyday Dress, Edenbrooke Dress, Santa Fe Tee, and Cloud 9 Vintage PJs just for starters. There’s a full list of all the other sewing patterns over at Peek-a-Boo that use fabric gathering HERE.

Happy Sewing!