How to Use a Gathering Foot – Learn to Gather Quickly

Using a gathering foot is an easy and time-saving way to gather your fabric automatically. They are readily available for most makes of sewing machines and are fairly inexpensive either individually or as part of a kit. This tutorial will explain how to use a gathering foot to make your sewing projects faster and more enjoyable.

What is a Gathering Foot? And What Does It Do?

A gathering foot looks similar to your regular all-purpose presser foot but gathers as you sew due to the shape of the foot. It works best with finer fabrics and is not recommended for thick or difficult fabrics. A gathering foot will produce even, fine and soft gathers rather than deep gathers or pleats and is best on lightweight fabrics.

Read about all the sewing machine feet beginners can use to make sewing easier and faster.

Medium-weight fabrics and heavyweight fabrics will barely gather. If you need to add fullness, follow this guide on how to gather fabric. This is my Janome gathering foot which I purchased on eBay. I have tried generic brands too that I purchased in a kit and they seem to work just as well.

How to Use a Gathering Foot Instructions

On most sewing machine models, the back of the foot will just clip on to the shank. Some may have a screw to tighten.

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Gathering Foot Settings Guide

Setting	Recommended Starting Point	Effect
Stitch Length	4.0	Longer stitches create deeper gathers
Thread Tension	6–8	Higher tension increases gathering
Fabric Type	Lightweight fabrics	Produces best results
Sewing Speed	Medium	Helps keep gathers even

💡 Tip: Always test gathers on a scrap fabric before sewing your final piece.

Step 1 – Stitch with the Gathering Foot

Stitch a single layer of fabric. On the RIGHT side of the fabric, straight stitch within the seam allowance. Unlike traditional methods of gathering, you only need to stitch one line, and you don’t need to pull the threads after you are finished.

Step 2 – Adjusting the Gathers

The longer the stitch length and the tighter the upper tension, the fuller the gathers.

The gathers will also be affected by the thickness of your fabric. You will see the best results in fine fabrics. Heavy fabrics are very hard to gather with this foot and would be better suited to gathering with a ruffler foot.

Step 3 – Test a Scrap

Before you start sewing, make sure you hold the thread tails to prevent them from getting caught up underneath. You will need to test your fabric to see how much it gathers and adjust the stitch length or tension to get it correct.

SUGGESTED SETTINGS – Start by putting your thread tension dial on 7.0 and stitch length on 4.0 and then adjust to your preference.

See how the longer stitch length on the right produced deeper gathers. Increasing sewing machine tension will also gather more tightly.

Tips for Using a Gathering Foot

The one thing about using a gathering foot or ruffler that is different from a traditional gathering is that it is harder to control the finished length of the fabric.

There are 2 ways you can deal with this.

1. The easy way  – Cut the ruffle a bit longer than needed and then trim any excess at the end. This way you don’t have to stress out over getting the gathering stitch length and tension perfect.
2. The precise way – Cut a test strip of 10 inches then gather it with your foot. Measure the new length. If it is 5 inches you have a 2:1 gather. Keep adjusting the stitch length and tension until you have the correct ratio.

Joining Flat Fabric

Your gathering foot can gather a single piece of fabric, or it can join a flat piece underneath all in one go. This definitely saves a lot of time! You will still need to experiment to get the gathers the correct ratio.

Start sewing with the flat, non-gathered fabric right side up and your fabric to be gathered the wrong side up. In other words, the garment and ruffle are right sides together.

Remember – Tighter gathers come from long stitch length and high tension.

Look how great it looks when finished! Now, normally you would sew the hem first when joining narrow ruffles.

Alternatives

The best alternative to a gathering foot is a ruffler foot or traditional gathering, but there are a couple of other methods that you can use.

• GATHERING WITH A SERGER – Did you know that you can gather with a serger? Like the gathering foot, it is best suited to fine to medium-weight fabrics. You can gather with a serger without any special foot or attachments. You just need to change the stitch length and differential feed setting.
• GATHERING WITH CORD – This is a relatively easy method of gathering that is done by zig-zagging over a thin cord or string. You do need to be careful not to catch in the string. Once you are done stitching, just pull the string through the zig-zag stitches. It is perfect for thick or difficult fabrics like tulle.
• GATHERING BY HAND – While it sounds a little laborious, gathering by hand is fairly quick as you just use an up-and-down running stitch. The smaller the stitch, the smaller the gathers.

Gathering Foot vs Ruffler

A gathering foot is different from a ruffler, which is a larger, more complicated device and produces a more dramatic gather. The gathered fabric produced by a ruffler is actually tiny little pleats rather than gentle gathers. You will, of course, notice the dramatic size difference between the two. A gathering foot is much smaller and lighter, and faster to set up and use.

Gathering Foot vs Ruffler Foot Chart

Feature	Gathering Foot	Ruffler Foot
Size	Small and lightweight	Large attachment
Setup	Quick to install	More complex
Gather Style	Soft gathers	Deep pleated gathers
Best Fabrics	Lightweight fabrics	Medium to heavy fabrics
Speed	Fast	Slightly slower but precise

A ruffler foot produces more dramatic gathers or pleats, while a gathering foot is better for soft ruffles and lightweight fabrics.

How to Use a Gathering Foot FAQs

Gathering Foot – In Conclusion

Using a gathering foot is one of the easiest ways to create quick and even gathers when sewing ruffles, skirts, and decorative trims. By adjusting the stitch length and thread tension, you can control the fullness of the gathers without the traditional method of sewing multiple rows of gathering stitches.

Although gathering feet work best with lightweight fabrics, they are valuable sewing machine attachments that save time and produce consistent results. With a little practice and testing on scrap fabric, you can quickly master how to use a gathering foot and add beautiful gathered details to your sewing projects.

More Presser Feet Articles

1. Gathering Foot
2. Rolled Hem Foot
3. Blind Hem Foot
4. 10 Best Sewing Machine Feet
5. Teflon Foot
6. All-Purpose Foot
7. Walking Foot
8. Binder Foot
9. Edge Stitch Foot