Today I thought I’d show you an easy way to gather tulle to make a pretty tutu skirt. If you have ever sewn tulle before you’ll know that gathering using traditional methods (2 rows of straight stitching with a long stitch length) can be hard work because of the volume of fabric you are often working with. Your threads will often snap as they don’t easily pull through the mesh of the tulle.
If you would like to make the skirt shown in these photos you can download my free tutu sewing pattern here.
So how do we gather tulle?
- Before you start, rummage through your bathroom cupboard to find your dental floss. Dental floss generally works better than string as it is slippery so pulls through the zig-zag stitches very easily. If you don’t have any floss you could also use crotchet thread or other thin but strong thread.
- Cut your dental floss at least 4 inches longer than the item to be gathered.
- Put your machine on a very wide zig-zag stitch. I set my width to 6 and my length to 3. Leave a tail of 2 inches (5cm) and then zig-zag over the floss. Be careful not to catch the floss in your zig-zag. Also be careful that you don’t pull the end of the floss too hard.
- To gather gently pull the floss and you will easily gather your tulle. Secure the ends together by tying a knot. You now have easily gathered your tulle! That much easier wasn’t it?
If you have some extra tips or other great ideas for gathering tulle please comment below.
Now you know how to gather tulle try it out on your free tutu skirt sewing pattern. This skirt is ideal for your little princess and comes in girls sizes 2 to 10.
Thank you. This saved my life. I struggled trying to gather 6 layers of tulle with the usual method.
Happy to help!! Thanks for reading.
This trick is literally a game changer in my sewing and creating world! I can’t believe how quickly I was able to create a very full tutu without losing my mind!