Pinterest Condensate- Gathers and Ruffles

These ruffles snipped from this image by Georges Seguin.

One purpose I have for this blog is to collect and condense information I have found elsewhere, so that I don't have to filter through a dozen links each time I want the information. My Pinterest boards for sewing have been swelling with lots of cool information, but Pinterest doesn't really let me condense it and pin my condensed form back up... unless I do the condensation somewhere else and post it to the internet. Hm...

I am first going to tackle the cluster of pins I have about gathering, ruffling, and shirring. I really don't need this many; I suspect I kept each because they give slightly different advice. Time to boil it down!

Condensate (AKA TL;DR)

There are several ways to gather fabric with machine stitching. All of them involve sewing a line into the fabric that gets shorter somehow after being sewn. There are two basic methods, each of which can be done with elastic or non-stretchy materials.

1: Sew a line that itself gets shorter. Either sew basting stitches and pull them to gather, or use elastic in the bobbin so that the fabric pulls itself together. The first results in nice, solid gathers, but the threads snapping is a definite possibility. The second isn't very strong unless you are making many lines of gathers (i.e., shirring), and the thin elastic thread doesn't have the longest lifespan.

2: Sew a zig zag over something slippery, then pull the slippery thing (dental floss or crochet thread are used in the pins) to gather, or over elastic, then shorten the elastic to gather. Same basic division as the first method- one makes solid gathers, the other makes stretchy ones. In the tutorials about using slippery things, they assume you will sew the gathers into place right away. I suspect the nature of elastic would keep the gathers from moving around too much, especially in kid's clothes, where the lengths are very short. Not sure it would work as well on adult clothes.

Variations: Most of these assume you're working in the seam allowance. Sew Mama Sew specifically takes issue with that, and does the basting rows on either side of the final stitching. Good effect if your fabric will recover from the basting stitches well. Colette advocates a three-row technique that basically combines the usual two-row with the below-the-stitching row, to good effect.

Tips to remember:

• Lowering tension when basting lets you pull on the bobbin threads easily to gather. Might also be useful for making removable zig-zag stitches for approach 2. 
• Anchor threads by winding them in a figure-8 around a pin. 
• If using elastic, make sure you like the amount of pull before you anchor the pulled end.
• If using a high-tension method, stop and start your threads every once in a while to reduce breakage.
• Leave a small area around match points ungathered to make matching easier. You can gather those small areas by hand once they are pinned in place. 
• If using elastic thread on a machine with a drop-in bobbin, let the machine wind the bobbin for you. If it's front-loading, do it by hand (I think she just means tensioning by hand).

Summaries:

Sew Mama Sew:

Yarn dyed fabric is awesome, Ruffling feet just don't cut it for a perfectionist like her, so:

Lower tension on needle thread, and sew from the back of the fabric. This makes it easy to pull the front threads later. Use two rows of machine basting stitches, one on either side of the seam line. Break the stitching line periodically to reduce breakage of the thread when gathering. Leave gaps around notches and other match points to maintain accuracy. After sewing, match up notches and other match points. Before pulling, wrap one end of the thread you will be pulling in a figure 8 around a pin to anchor it. Pull both front threads to gather between your match points. Initially, don't worry about distribution, just pull up the extra length. Once you have the gathers, distribute them evenly per section, and pin in place.

Now you are ready to go to the sewing machine. Sew between the basting lines, removing pins and pulling the figure-8 thread out of the way. When you're finished, pull out the visible basting stitches, and iron the gathered material without crushing the gathers.

My comments: 

I like this one a lot. She adds a lot of nice tips. I agree that yarn-dyed fabric is awesome. I love the figure-8 around the pin; I have seen that done with rope, but never thought to do it with thread around a pin! This looks like a go-to method, but I will need something that doesn't pierce the visible part of the fabric for anything that retains pinholes.

Newton Custom Interiors:

I love ruffles! Here are some pictures of ruffles I made. I usually prefer knife-pleat ruffles, but I thought I should cover gathered ruffles too. Here is a video of how to make gathered ruffles.

For people who don't watch videos, here is some information in text form:

Preparation for Gathered Ruffles: Figure out how long the ruffle needs to be first. You can make single or double thickness ruffles (folded or flat). Do something to prevent your gathered edge from fraying.

Method 1: Using a long stitch on your sewing machine, make two lines of stitching about 1/8" apart and 1/8" in from where your seam will be (in the seam allowance). Remember to leave long tails. Knot all four threads on one end, then pull the top threads on the other end to gather. Remember to distribute gathers rather than leaving them all in a bunch.

Method 2: Zig-zag stitch over a piece of unwaxed dental floss (essentially making a tiny casing). Be careful not to sew the floss into the stitches. Tie the floss and threads together at one end, then pull on the floss to gather.

My comments:

Maybe she's tons more detailed in the video, but I do wish there was more information in the written form. I severely dislike how-to videos when I actually want instructions- they never go at the speed I want, so I have to either suffer through slow delivery or keep pausing so I can process and keep up while looking at or thinking of my own project. The reminder that you can do single- or double-sided ruffles is fine, but I don't need it. I do like the dental floss method. Might try that at some point.

Felicity Sewing Patterns:

This is not the elastic-thread-on-the-bobbin method. {...A bunch of stuff about the toddler dress pattern...}

The only elastic to use for this is flat 1/8" elastic. Measure your elastic, and mark at the desired length. Then add a couple of inches before cutting. {... More stuff about the pattern...} Set your sewing machine to a wide, long zig zag stitch. The idea is for the elastic not to be caught in the sewing, but for the sewing to make a small channel around the elastic. Use all purpose thread in the needle and the bobbin.

Set your machine back to a straight stitch to sew over one end of the elastic, tacking it down, then switch to your zig zag stitch and sew over the length of the elastic, being careful not to catch the elastic in the stitches. When you start to run out of elastic, stop with the needle down, and gently pull on the elastic, gathering the fabric behind the needle until you have more elastic to work with. When you reach the end of your gather section, pin the mark on the elastic to the end of your gathered section. Check to make sure the elastic moves freely through its channel, and check the tension and relaxed size of the elastic before sewing it down. (If you are doing many parallel channels, like the pattern being made in the source, sew all the channels before tacking the ends of the elastic down.) To finish, set the machine back to straight stitch and tack down the end of the elastic. A good rule of thumb is to set your elastic about 2 1/2" smaller than the body measurement.

My comments:

I like this one. Basically the same as the dental floss in procedure, but stretchy when complete. A useful alternative. I don't know if the rule of thumb works on adult clothes; will need to explore that one. I suspect it varies with burliness of the elastic. All in all, very nice.

Ruffles And Stuff:

All you need to shirr is fabric, fashion thread, and elastic thread.

Remember, your fabric will end up about half the size it starts out, but stretchy. I recommend marking your sewing lines. The closer together you put your lines, the more gathered your fabric will look. Most people go with around half an inch between lines.

Wind your bobbin by hand, adding a little bit of tension, then put it in place as you would with normal thread. Use your normal thread in the needle.

Backstitch at the start of your sewing to lock the thread in place. When you get to the end of a row, you can backstitch and cut your thread, or just lift and move to the next line. Keep going until you have done all the lines, then backstitch to lock the end.

The fabric won't look every gathered to start with, but it gets more so with each line you sew.

Spray with water, then press (not iron, no sideways movement) to make the elastic tighten up even more.

ETA: if you have a drop-in bobbin, let the machine tension the bobbin instead of doing it yourself. That works better.

My comments:

I sort of forgot about shirring when I started this, but it's still the same family of near-duplicate pins. This is the method Felicity was emphatically stating they weren't using. I see this a lot in girl's clothes, because it looks nice and lets the garment grow as the girl does. I find it occasionally in adult clothes. I like it, but you have to be aware that once the elastic goes, it's not easy to fix. I find a lot of items with dead or snapped elastic in thrift stores. Not much of a worry with kids' clothes, because they will outgrow them before the elastic dies, but relevant for me.

The Family Homestead:

The traditional way to gather is to sew a long straight basting stitch across the fabric, then pull on the bobbin thread. For me, the threads always broke. I like this way better.

Set your machine to a wide zig-zag, put the presser foot right at the edge of the fabric, and put cotton crochet thread in the middle of your stitch. Sew over it without catching it, making a small channel in which it moves freely.

If you are making something large, it may be useful to do the gathering in sections. For a skirt, use the side seams as start and stop points. Secure the end of the crochet thread in a figure-8 around a pin to hold it. Pull the crochet thread to form gathers, distribute them evenly, then pin your fabric and sew a 5/8" seam to secure your gathers.

You can easily remove the crochet thread by finding the end and pulling it out. You can also remove the zig-zag stitch, but I rarely do.

My comments:

Basically the same as the dental floss method; I suspect just different small, slippy things on hand. This one has fewer cautions than the others. Combines well with the growing hive-mind of methods.

Colette

Gathering is generally done by pulling basting threads. Here are some tips on how to make that work better.

Backstitch at the start of the row, then pull the bobbin thread, which is less likely to break.

Sewing an extra gathering row below the stitching line makes the finished gathers straighter, more even and smaller, for the same amount of gathering. Don't do this on fabrics that will show the marks from the basting row.

Pins condensed:

Sew Mama Sew- How To Gather Fabric Almost Perfectly Almost Every Time
Newton Custom Interiors- How To Make A Gathered Ruffle
ZigZag Shirring Tutorial & Toddler Dress Pattern
Ruffles And Stuff- Shirring Tutorial
The Family Homestead- How to Easily Gather Fabric
Colette Sewing Handbook: Gathering Stitches

Next up: Smocking!