Gathering ...

Do you want to know how to make ruffles in fabric? Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn't be looking at this bloody blog! The process is simpler than you would think and you can start by grabbing a piece of muslin (or other scrap of fabric you don't mind using up) and heading over to your sewing machine.

Fun Fact: Did you know that in costume shops and studios a garment's maker will often use muslin to make pieces of a garment or even a whole garment before cutting the intended fabric? This is to test the fit of the garment, so instead of using the more expensive materials on what might not be the right fit muslin is used as an inexpensive test garment.

1. Using a straight stitch 
Making sure your machine is threaded and ready for use ...
"But how do I know my machine is ready? And I don't know how to thread a sewing machine!" Oh, look, it's The Guy In The Back who's now pretending feigned interest after last week's post on Industrial Iron's got him all hot and bothered. Don't worry Guy In The Back and new readers, you can learn all about how to thread a sewing machine in last week's posts.

Now that your machine is good and threaded and your muslin is placed under the presser foot take a look at your dials or knobs on your machine. Make sure that you have no width to your stitches, as this will create a zig-zag and you will not be able to do what I am showing you resulting in tears by all. Next, you'll want to adjust your stitch length and make it the longest you can - this will make the process easier later on.

Now sew a straight line down the length of your muslin scrap without any back stitching. I repeat, NO BACK STITCHING: this will make the rest of the process impossible which will go a head and assume will make you mad, hulk out, and then throw your machine out the window.

After you've sewn your line of stitching leave your self some tails on the ends of your fabric, you'll cut them later but you'll need them now.

take hold of your bottom thread and gently slide your fabric away from the end you are holding the thread.

sew4home.com/sites/sewmk.mervideo.com/files/images_04_pulling_threads_to_make_ruffles
It's that simple!

You have now successfully learned how to gather on a straight stitch. What, I told you it would be easy.

After you've gather the appropriate amount of fabric you need cut the tails of your threads or cosmetic reasons.

2. Using a Zig-Zag over a hymark
To gather using a zig-zag stitch  you'll need to proceed just as before only this time you'll begin your straight stitch with hymark thread (a heavy cord-like thread).

Instead of gathering after you've completed your straight stitch you're going to march right back to the machine and use standard thread for your zig-zag stitching. make sure your stitch length is set to the widest possible so you can have a wide zig-zag. Thread all the way down and over your hymark stitching and you will, again, leave a tail.

As before you'll pull on the hymark bottom thread and begin to gather.

sew4home.com/sites/sewmk.mervideo.com/files/images_05_zigzag_stitch_over_drawstring.png
It really is that simple...

Now, go gather to your hearts content.
Not you, Guy In The Back...I'll see you after class.