HUNTERS & GATHERERS

HUNTERS & GATHERERS

So…you’ve finally hunted down that perfect pattern…the one with the gathers. You think to yourself, one day I’ll make that, the day comes and you choose to make something else, an old favourite or something you believe to be a little easier, that is, the pattern without gathers. STOP! Gathers should not be off putting or instil the the fear of the universe within your soul. Rather, they should be considered as another skill to add to your sewing technique arsenal. Believe me, there are several steps which you can take in order to get great looking gathers. In this little blog post we’ll discuss a few of them.

Firstly, I tend to consider the type of fabric to be gathered, principally the softer the better or should I say the ‘less stiff’. However, I should really be clear here. If the fabric is stiff it will be harder to pull it evenly and smoothly along the threads upon which it is being gathered. This could play havoc with your fingers if there’s a lot of fabric - a small amount will be easier to manipulate. On the other hand you may want the gathered part of your garment, frills for example, to really in the literal sense, stand out or as I often say to myself ‘kick out’.

Next, when thinking about the two long rows of stitching which will be pulled through the fabric pattern piece to create gathers, reduce thread tension and test out stitching on a scrap piece of fabric. Make sure that thread tension isn’t too loose so that it doesn’t get tangled and knotted up in your machine’s feed dog. Also, if tension is too loose, there can be too little friction between fabric and stitching, giving you less control when trying to get your gathers to lie even across length of stitching lines and perhaps more importantly, the inability of the loose tension stitching to hold gathers securely in place prior to stitching them into a seam.

Another thing to consider is the strength of thread. If you’re like me and have had the the bad experience of pulling on gathering stitches to have them snap and the long length of fabric which you’ve almost finished gathering fall to the floor - it may be a good idea to use invisible thread, which we often use in the alterations studio for hems and sewing on beads for decoration. It’s stronger with less of a propensity to snap, as it’s made of nylon - resembling fishing line - which could also be used for that matter. One problem, when using invisible thread or fishing line, is that you may have to play around with the dials on your machine to get the tension right before sewing. A valuable tip here is that the invisible thread is used on the top and normal thread is used on the bottom instead of both top and bottom threads being of the invisible variety.

Using invisible thread - there are some great tips and tricks in this blog post.

If you are a little more adventurous then a 'time saving' gathering foot may be the answer to your prayers. These work by gathering as you sew due to the shape of the foot. But WARNING! A gathering foot only really works on fine fabrics; and if fine, not overly slippy. As such, when using finer slippy fabrics, you’ll just have to test, test, test - which defeats the object of using a supposedly time saving device - if you’re in a mad rush to get your make finished. Ironically, the more manual way of gathering may prove to be quicker in the long run.

Please note, heavy weight fabrics will barely gather. For the heavy weights a ruffler may be a better option - it produces tiny like pleats as opposed to actual gathers.

I found this little blog post over on Pinterest - it brought some clarity to Gathering vs Ruffling.

Keeping ‘mini’ pleats and/or gathers in mind it’s important to consider the finished length of a fabric once it’s been gathered and how accurately it will fit to the length it’s being matched. In the business we call it ratio. What I’m driving at is that if you have a ratio of let’s say 2:1, the length of the fabric to be gathered would be 30 cm and its finished length after gathering would be 15 cm to fit a seam or pattern piece of 15 cm: precisely half. As such, when using a gather foot or a ruffler you’ll have to double check that the length gathered has been gathered to the correct length. A process, which is less strict if you’re gathering by hand - you simply have to pull tighter or release a bit of tension by carefully sliding fabric across loose tension stitching lines. You will have to weigh up what is better for you. On the other hand if you’ve got long hem frills such as those found on the pattern hack which we do for the Swing Smock: https://www.vjseamsters.co.uk/product-page/swing-smock

a gathering foot or ruffler may be the better option.

Importantly, irrespective of the fact that your ruffler or gathering foot has adjustment nobs and dials, if the length to be gathered is not exactly a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio more like a 2.10:1 or 3.4:1 ratio you could be sitting there testing and working out for a considerable amount of time. In this time, once again I repeat, it could have been quicker to just gather your fabric by hand.

So there you have it - hopefully this blog has given you a few steps to help you get great looking gathers - it was brief but I believe informative. If you’re looking for a video to help you in the visual sense try this one: https://youtu.be/KtbBwELp3Pk?si=v2_BFowEbCayqs4z. It’s a pattern hack to help you add frills to the Swing Smock. Yes it is for a specific pattern but the techniques shown and employed will transfer to any make which involves gathers…

Happy Sewing :)

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