How to gather fabric
Two rows of long stitches, pulled up evenly, for skirts, sleeves and frills.
Step by step
- Set the longest straight stitch (a basting stitch).
- Sew two parallel rows inside the seam allowance, leaving long thread tails. Do not backstitch.
- Pin the gathered piece to the flat piece at the ends and centre.
- Pull the two bobbin threads together to gather, spreading the gathers evenly.
- Wind the tails around a pin in a figure of eight to hold them.
- Sew the seam with the gathered side up, then remove any basting that shows.
Watch
How To Sew Gathers (3:33)
By Tilly and the Buttons · Open on YouTube
Chosen from its title and channel: a 3-minute video from Tilly and the Buttons on the same topic as this guide. Embedded from YouTube with credit; we don't host it. It only loads when you press play.
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Sources
All checked 1 November 2026. We read these; we did not test the products ourselves.