French Gathering
"French Gathering is generally used in drawing up the fullness at the back of skirts, when a large quantity of heavy material has to be gathered into a small compass." from the book Home and School Sewing, 1901
The pictures of the French Gathering in this post were taken of a remarkable old Christening Gown. The skirt was gathered using this method. It is sometimes called Gaging.
In this close up picture of the outside of the gown, you can see how the gathers look like little pleats which are stitched to the bodice of the gown.
This is taken of the inside of the gown where the skirt attaches to the bodice. Notice that the fabric has not been clean finished on the inside which would have been standard stitching practice. And most of the fabric from the pleats is on the inside of the gown.
In this photo, I have given you a birds eye view where you can see what the top of the gathers (or little pleats) look like. Very even and neat.
The illustration came from the book I have quoted above and the instructions were from a class I taught many years ago for SAGA. The class title is "Sewing For Infants - Circa 1920", although this stitch is older than 1920.
The gown I have pictured here is a dear treasure and I will feature the entire gown in a later post.
I will be excited to show you.
This is my White Wednesday post along with Faded Charm!
All Designs Are Copyright Protected copyright 2011 Jeannie Baumeister
That looks like the same technique that I used for a pioneer dress pattern (it's Laughing Moon's Round Dress). It is indeed very effective for getting a lot of fabric gathered in to a small space. Neat to see it on a christening gown!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this. At the SAGA convention, Susan O'Connor had a lovely eyelet embroidered sleeve which was gathered to the cuff using gaging. It looked like teensy cartridge pleats to me, and I was wondering how it was done. Now that I know, I'm definitely going to try it!
ReplyDeleteOur local Amish use a similar looking technique to finish their organdy summer bonnets. They connect the gathered part of the bonnet to the brim in what appears to be the same fashion. Its really lovely. "Teensy cartridge pleats" is a perfect description.
ReplyDeleteI love this!!
ReplyDeleteI love this!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is also known as 'cartidge pleating or pleated', and is ever a wonderful sight to behold in person ... hard to believe they had the patience to accomplish all this work, and then embellish it with further with intricated embroidery and lace work. I've been collecting antique children's clothing (and portraits showing the clothing as well) for years, and am always utterly enchanted by each new addition ... simple or elaborate! Thanks for sharing this lovely piece of the past.
ReplyDeleteQuite interesting. I have not read about this technique, but never too old to learn. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteBeckie in Brentwood, TN
Sorry for the typos ... my original comment should read 'cartRidge pleating' instead of 'cartidge', and have only one 'with' in the second sentence. Sometimes my fingers go faster than my brain ... !
ReplyDelete