How to gather when sewing?

Question

how would I gather the neck of a cape?

Answer 1

If it's not hooded, the easiest thing to do is to make a "casing" and insert a drawstring, which becomes the tie of the cape. A little more elegant is to gather the fabric and attach it to a fitted neckband -- essentially like putting a waistband on a gathered skirt.

There are several styles of cape/cloak that don't require gathering at the neckline -- you might want to look at some like these, especially if you want a hood -- they can be difficult to sew onto a gathered rectangular cloak like the infamous Kinsale cloak: (http://www.folkwear.com/207.html )

http://home.clara.net/arianrhod/Aldebaran/DoItYourself/ (page down to "cloak making guide")
http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Things/FCloak/FCloak_pattern.htm
http://www.craftzine.com/blog/archive/2007/09/hooded_cape_pattern.html
http://www.costumes.org/classes/254pages/projects/cape.htm

Answer 2

To go one step further than Gretchen... her solution was great except depending on fabric may I suggest you do your gathering a bit differently... I've found that if I had to do alot of fabric into tighter gather (for a smaller finished end) or with thicker fabrics... use a thick thread (like carpet thread) or a very narrow cord... and zig-zag stitch over it (miss this thread when sewing....

Then when done, gather by pulling evenly pulling and easying gathers with this thread from each end of piece being gathered.... this saves lots of fustration time because pulling thread with not break as most sewing threads have a tendency to do when doing alot of gathering. Gathering will be very even with this method so you only need to know the final inches you need to end up with to measure if you've gathered enough.

Answer 3

measure the size you want the finished neck to be and divide by four. put a pin in the neck edge of the cape at the halfway point and at the halfway points of this, (at each quarter.)Sew a long basting thread through the entire neck edge and begin pulling the thread to form gathers. gather each quarter to the size you want to make the neckhole. Pin the gathered neck edge to whatever you are using to finish it: ribbon, a length of the material, binding strip, or whatever, and sew at a regular setting.

Answer 4

an easy way I learned is get double-sided sewing tape, peel off the one side then take your fabric, then gather, then stick, gather, then stick then all you have to do is sew from there and you don't have to worry about it moving around and you can perfect the gather before you sew. also the sewing tape dissolves in water when washed. this is not the iron on hem tape and it's found at Joann Fabrics