Hello sewing friends! It’s Tamar from Tamar Hope Designs, and it’s time for the third post in our serger series! If you missed it, we already talked about serger basics in this post. We covered threading, balancing, seam allowances, and serger tails. In the second serger series post, we learned how to use your serger to sew a blind hem. Today we are going to dive into one of my favorite ways to use my serger! I am going to show you how to evenly and beautifully gather a ruffled or tiered skirt in 5 minutes! That’s right. . .5 minutes! It can easily take an hour or more to achieve even ruffles for a tiered skirt using two or three rows of gathering stitches. Your serger can do all the work for you. It takes a little practice, but it’s magical! I used it to gather the bottom tier of this sweet Ivy.
There are a few tips that you need to know before you get started in order for this to work. The first thing to be aware of is that you can only gather a straight piece of fabric to another straight piece. So, instead of sewing both side seams on a skirt tier or ruffle, simply sew one side seam, so you have one long piece of fabric rather than a loop.
The next thing to know is that this method will give you a perfect 2 to 1 gathering ratio. So, make sure that the piece to be gathered is twice as long as the piece that it needs to fit. For example, if the top tier of your skirt is 60 inches long. The bottom tier needs to be 120 inches long. All of the Sunflower Seams tiered skirts and ruffles fit this ratio.
To set up your machine, all you need to do is get your gathering foot. (Many sergers come with this handy foot.)
And set the differential to 2.
Now place your long fabric (the fabric that needs to be gathered) right side up under the foot.
Place your shorter fabric right side down through the slot at the front of the foot.
Start sewing slowly, making sure that both layers of fabric reach the needle at the same time. Once the needle starts sewing through the fabric, hold the top fabric with your left hand and the bottom fabric with your right hand.
It is very important that you never push or pull either layer. The bottom layer will feed twice as fast as the top layer. That is why I like to hold the two fabrics with different hands. Allow the bottom layer to feed twice as fast as the top layer and do not apply any tension to the bottom layer. If it is not allowed to feed freely, your gathers will not be even.
When you reach the end, turn your fabric over. Make sure your gathers look even, and give them a good press.
Now, sew the open side seam together matching the tier seams.
Turn your side seam right side out, press the side seam, and topstitch the tier.
Finish the dress according to the instructions, hemming at the end instead of hemming before attaching the tier.
I absolutely love this time saving method! I will say though that gathering with a serger results in a flat gather. I actually prefer this for tiers on older girl’s dresses. However, if I want really poofy tiers and ruffles on a little girl’s dress, I’ll still use the domestic machine with multiple rows of gathering stitches. If you want tips for getting perfect gathers with your domestic machine. Check out this post.
Happy Gathering!
-Tamar