Gathering

Gathering is a sewing technique for shortening a length of fabric so it can be attached to a shorter piece of fabric. it can also be used to control fullness, as when a sleeve piece is attached to the arm or cuff piece of a shirt.it is first gathered then eased into the chosen part.

the gathering technique involves parallel rows of running stitches sewn on one edge of the fabric, to be gathered. the stitching threads, which are left loose and long, are pulled or drawn up to create small folds along the threadline.

a quick way to create a gather is to use a zigzag stitch.both the upper and lower threads are pulled long and placed in front of the machine. zigzagging is carefully sewed along the two threads, without catching the thread as its sewn.then the threads are pulled to create a gather.