14 May 2010

Gathering - The Magic

The "Better Late than Never" Dress calls for a fair bit of gathering in the bodice and the skirt.  There are all sorts of techniques out there for gathering fabric, but I thought I'd document my favourite method in the pictorial tutorial.  I am showing how the gathered midriff overlay piece is attached to a stay, but this technique can be used in any situation requiring the attachment of a large piece of fabric to a smaller piece of fabric, via gathering.

Run a line of basting stitches along the seamline on the larger piece of fabric (you can see the larger lime green fabric will be gathered onto the smaller avocado green stay in the picture below).  You can do this by machine by cranking up your stitch length as high as it will go - on my machine, it is 5 mm.

 Pin the two ends in place and pin the middles of the two fabrics together.

Continue to pin at equidistant intervals.

Add as many pins as is necessary to evenly distribute the fabric.

Pull up the basting stitches to gather the larger piece of fabric as tightly as possible.

Pull the ends of the smaller piece of fabric back into shape.  The gathers on the larger piece of fabric should now be evenly distributed amongst the pins.  Sit back and revel in your awesomeness.
 


P.S.  The dress is done and not a moment too soon.  I will be heading out in a couple of hours.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have all sorts of fab photos of me rockin' out at Prom.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Shannon, can't wait to see photos from the prom and of your dress. I will try your technique of gathering the next time I need to gather a larger piece into a smaller piece. Thanks

Faye Lewis said...

I can't wait to see you in it. I love that color.

Anonymous said...

I'll have to try your version for gathers. Have a great time at prom in your awesome dress. Also, my dyslexia got the best of me when I read your title and I thought you were really posting about the card game. lol

Vicki said...

I;ve never done it that way! Must give it a go. Have fun and don't be home late! :)

Sophie Miriam said...

Wow! I thought I was the only person who gathered that way. Now I don't feel unique anymore. :P

Sophie
filasewphie.blogspot.com

Carol said...

I like your method for gathering. I have a top cut and ready to sew this afternoon and I will use your technique. Can't wait to see the dress on you!

Trudy said...

I've never heard of this method; so thanks for sharing it. Can't wait to see the dress.

Branka said...

Have fun at prom, can't wait for the pics, thanks for the tutorial!

Linda L said...

I have not tried this method for gathering. I have bookmarked this for future reference. It seems to work very well.

Anne said...

Great tutorial!! I linked to it on Craft Gossip Sewing:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-creating-gathers-in-fabric/2010/05/16/
--Anne

Becky said...

I love your tutorial. And I'm enough of a geek to giggle madly at your title.

Amy said...

Thanks for sharing your technique! My gathering is always a little bit uneven, so I'm going to try this next time around.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the instructions! I'll be working on a dress with a gathered waistband in the next few weeks, so this couldn't have come at a better time. You rock!