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Amy sewalong: gathering your skirt – Afternoon

Amy sewalong: gathering your skirt


Welcome back to the Amy sewalong! Let’s get stuck in.

Setting up your machine

We’re going to be running a large, straight stitch along the top edge of the skirt, so set your stitch length as long as possible.

Machine settings

Making the gathers

I find it easiest to gather each panel one at a time – the front of the skirt, and then the two back skirt pieces. This is because sewing over the side seams can cause bulk in the waistband and make it difficult to gather.

Side seams

Sew right up to the side seam, but stop just before. Leave a tail of thread, and remember not to backstitch at the beginning or end!

Leave thread tails

Gently pull your top thread to gather up the skirt. As the gathers are made, guide them along the thread to distribute them evenly.

Leave the ends

Don’t worry too much about making tight gathers right up to the edges of the skirt. We’re going to be setting the zip into the back seam, so you will want a bit of flat fabric to work with. So you can safely leave your seam allowance untouched.

Dealing with the pockets

Fold your pockets in toward the centre front of the skirt, and pin them in place.

Pin the pockets

By hand, baste the pockets in place with a contrasting colour thread. You can take this stitching out later, this is just done so that your pockets stay put (without any pesky pins) while you attach the waistband.

Baste the pockets

Ta-da!

Nicely done! We’ll be attaching our waistbands next. If you want to go back and catch up on what you might have missed, see what we did last time when we sewed the pockets.

It would be awesome to see your progress! Share with us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook using the hashtags #amysewalong, #sewingamy, #amyskirt and #afternoonpatterns