How to Sew Gathers
- 1). Cut the fabric into the desired shape. To make gathers, you must pull the fabric into a ruffled shape, which will shrink the width of the fabric by one or two times. Make the fabric at least twice as wide as you want the finished product.
- 2). Set the machine to sew the longest stitches it will make. Sew one straight line of stitches ½ inch away from the edge of the fabric. Sew a second straight line of stitches 6/8ths of an inch down from the edge of the fabric. Make sure to leave a long tail of threads on both sides of the fabric. Do not anchor the stitches with back stitching.
- 3). Pull the threads gently to gather the fabric. Pull both strings to gather the fabric to the desired length. Spread out the gathers so that they are spaced evenly around the fabric.
- 4). Reset the sewing machine to sew regular-sized stitches. Sew the gathered fabric to the other piece of fabric as noted on the pattern between the two gather lines, along the 5/8th-of-an-inch mark. Back stitch the ends of this stitch to secure them in place. Pull out the threads from the top and bottom gather threads to release them from the fabric.
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