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               EASING AND GATHERING
    
    It will often happen that you need to sew together two 
pieces of fabric that aren't the same length.  You 
accomplish this by gathering or easing the longer fabric 
onto the shorter fabric.  The main difference between 
gathering and easing is that when you gather, you fiddle 
with the puckers until they are evenly distributed.  When 
you ease, you fiddle with the puckers until they disappear. 
    Unless otherwise noted, all stitching mentioned in this 
section is done by machine.  
    
    If the difference in length is subtle, it will suffice 
to match the ends and notches with pins put in at right 
angles to the seam line, then pin in the seamline with the 
longer piece on the bottom, so that when you sew with the 
pins on top, the longer piece will be against the feed dogs, 
so that the dogs' natural tendency to scroonch the lower 
fabric works with you instead of against you.  (Before 
sewing, check again to make sure that all the notch-matching 
pins were pulled out.  You may wish to use large-headed pins 
for this purpose, to make them harder to overlook.) 
    In-seamline pins will tend to flatten any ripples that 
approach them.  In addition to the usual dangers, right-
angle pins tend to turn ripples into pleats, so even if you 
are so rash as to stitch over pins, use in-seamline pins 
when you are easing.           
    
    Easing this way is so easy that when the two pieces are 
cut by the same pattern and need no easing at all, you still 
need notches to make sure you don't ease unintentionally, 
with places where you've eased A onto B balanced by places 
where you've eased B onto A.  If you have a long curve which 
hasn't any notches, add one or two.  Spots where the 
curvature changes are good places to put notches -- where a 
straight line meets a curve, or a shallower curve meets a 
sharper one.  Middles are also good places.  It is 
particularly important to mark bias, which eases very 
easily. 
    Another way to avoid unintended easing is to pin with 
both pieces under slight tension.  I always pin long, 
straight seams and hems with their ends pinned to my ironing 
board. 


Gathering Threads 
=================

    If it's a bit awkward to ease with pins alone, run a 
line of basting in the seam allowance, gather up the edge, 
then smooth it out again.  The process should scroonch up 
the fabric enough that you have to stretch it to fit the 
shorter edge, and the procedure described above should now 
be easy. 

    One row of basting will do when you can almost do 
without any, but any time you are sure that you need 
gathering threads, put one row on each side of the proposed 
seam line.  Whether you are trying to flatten them away or 
turn them into pleats, ripples are much easier to manage 
when they are held on both sides.  When you need to gather 
an enormous amount of fabric -- when making an 
exceedingly-full gathered skirt, for example -- 
put in *three* gathering threads, one in the 
allowance and two in the body. 

    In tailoring and fine sewing, all gathering threads are 
in the seam allowance, to avoid all chance of marking the 
delicate fabrics often used for these kinds of sewing.  The 
cloth inside the seam line is controlled by steaming it into 
the desired shape on a tailor's ham.  Even when all 
stitching is in the seam allowance, it is easier to ease or 
gather with two threads than with one. 

    You will pull the bobbin thread to draw up your gathers, 
so this thread needs to be strong.  Some people use silk or 
nylon thread in the bobbin because gathers slide 
easily on slick thread, but I find that gathers 
slide *too* easily on these threads, and don't 
stay where I put them.  
    So I double whatever cheap thread happens to be lying 
around.  It helps to use threads that don't match, to make 
it easier to keep track of the double-wound bobbin -- and 
use a third color for the needle thread, to make it easier 
to pull the correct two threads.  But I found it a mistake 
to use one white thread and one very dark thread, as one of 
the threads was hard to see on white fabric, and the other 
was invisible on black fabric. 
    To wind a bobbin with double thread, thread your machine 
as for twin needle work as far as the place where the needle 
path diverges from the bobbin-winder path, then treat the 
two threads as one from there on.  You would expect two 
threads going through one tension device to wind unevenly, 
but I've never had any difficulty.  After you cut the 
threads, knot the ends to keep them from getting out of 
synch -- and further mark this bobbin as being double wound.  
Since this knot is in the waste thread that will be behind 
the presser foot when you start sewing, there is no need to 
cut it off before sewing. 
    (You knot the end of a thread by wrapping it around your 
fingertip, then rolling the loop off your finger, which 
twists the end of the thread around the loop, causing it to 
form a knot when you close the loop by dragging the end of 
the thread between your fingers.  This trick won't work the 
first time you try it; persevere.  Dampening the 
fingertip to increase friction may help.) 
    When you remove the bobbin from the machine after using 
it, tie another knot in the ends of the remaining thread.  
If ever one thread gets a wrap ahead of the other, the two 
threads will snarl each other and you'll end up cutting them 
off the bobbin.   (A seam ripper is convenient for this 
procedure.) 
    If your machine doesn't have two spool pins, you'll have 
to improvise.  I've heard of stacking two bobbins on a 
single spool pin, but I think it would be easier to put two 
spools on a knitting needle thrust through a shoe box. 
    
                               
Using gathering threads 
=======================

    Once the easing gets thick enough that you have to fuss 
over getting rid of the ripples, you have a problem:  you 
want to stitch with the longer side down, but it is seldom 
convenient to fiddle with the ripples when they are on the 
underneath side and you can't see what you are doing.  The 
solution is to pin from the long side with right-angle pins, 
then turn the work over and re-pin in the seam line. 
    
    Begin by matching the ends and the notches.  This must 
be done with right-angle pins even when you are working from 
the short side, as you are sure only of points along the 
seam line, and a stitching-line pin controlls an inch or 
more. 
    Pull both ends of the drawing threads, moving puckers to the 
middle.  When the length is just right, stick right-angle pins at the 
ends of the drawing thread, and wind the ends in a figur 8 to secure 
them.
    Now stroke the puckers back and forth until they are evenly 
distributed or disappear, depending on whether you are gathering or 
easing.  When easing, it helps to put your fingers between the layers 
now and again, and press and stroke from the back. 
    When a section is arranged to your liking, secure it 
with more right-angle pins. 
    When the whole seam is arranged properly, turn it over 
and pin in the seamline.  Remove each right-angle pin when 
you have seamline pins on both sides of it.  If you are 
using a non-slick thread, you may pull out the pins holding 
the figure eights at this time, but don't cut the ends short 
until you are actually seated at the machine. 
    If the threads are slick, or if you are gathering 
tightly, leave each figure-eight pin in place until the 
stitching has almost reached it, then pull it out and pull 
the ends of the gathering threads to the side so that they 
won't be caught in the stitching.  The threads on one side 
of the stitching will cross it, but if you have pulled them 
straight, only one point of the gathering threads will be 
involved with only one stitch.  If you cut the thread close 
to the stitching on one side and pull the other end, it will 
slip out of the stitch neatly even if it has been pierced.  
    Usually, a pierced thread will still slip back and forth 
a little, because the piercing thread passes between the 
fibers, making a minute slit, rather than a round hole.  If 
you snip close to the fabric while pulling on the thread, 
you can cut through this little buttonhole, and release the 
other end of the thread with the same cut. 
    Pinning is much easier at the ironing board, as pins 
stabbed through the fabric into the padding of the board can 
serve as extra hands. 


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