Tutorial: Whipped Gathering a Frill or Ruffle; Plus a Bit on Hemming the 1790s Cloak

Here's more information on the hand whip-gathered frill or ruffle that edges the 1790s cloak that I'm currently making, plus a little on the hemming made by my antique Willcox and Gibbs machine. This cloak contains both hand and machine work. 

Whipped-Gathering a Frill or Ruffle: A Tutorial

Anywhoo, here are the steps to make a narrow whipped gather for a frill or ruffle on a cap or a cloak, a dress or similar 18th century or early 19th century article. When I first tried them, the results were not good. It took a good bit of experimentation with ways of holding my hands, of treating the fabric, of stretching the fabric, and so on, to make it work. The pictures you see below actually date to the wrap-front dress work and are not as narrow as I have achieved since...and by the way, my results vary; if you're in practice you can really move and achieve a very, very fine result with your whipped gathers.

If your results aren't as narrow as you like, keep reminding yourself that it could take several garments before you achieve a pencil-point-fine effect. If you happen to see minute, super-fine work on an original garment, do remember that today's easily available fabrics are made with thicker threads and the threads we tend to use to sew with are thicker, too. Even today's lace-making thread is thicker than what used to be made.

Start with the length of fabric you plan to create a frill or ruffle out of. Usually it will be quite narrow, only an inch or two wide. Have your sewing thread, a sharp needle, and your thread snips ready.

Step 1

Measure out an arm's length of thread and snip it. Knot the thread securely in the fabric at one one end on the raw edge, taking a backstitch in it too, so it cannot come out. If you don't and the thread comes out, there goes your work...

Attach the piece of fabric some foot or two away from you to a sewing bird or other holder. In these pictures I have pinned the fabric to the top of my sewing box. To work accurately and speedily, you need tension on the fabric; it can't be all loose and floppy. You could pin the work to your knee, running the pin through your skirt/dress/slacks/jeans, but then you have to move it frequently enough to be a bother. I tend to set the length of fabric so that it runs vertically, rather than to the left or the right. For some reason this is faster for more; your mileage may vary :)

Step 2

Using your thumb and forefinger or middle finger, rub the raw edge of the fabric such that the raw edge rolls up tightly inside the fabric. You want this little roll as tight as possible, for the tighter, the finer the result, the more it will be like what was done back in the day.

Maintain tension on the fabric as you do this, or the roll will not be even.

If you gently move your entire hand upwards as you roll, you can keep rolling along until you have a foot or more ready to gather.

Tip: your thumb remains steady; it's your index finger or middle finger that does the rubbing motion.

If the fabric seems not to want to roll, try wetting your finger a little. Lightly starching the raw edge before you begin work can help, too.

I have looked at a video or two online of the process and those show more of a folding action than a rolling one, resulting in a much wider hem.

Slowly rubbing the fabric, which I have starched,
into a narrow roll.

Step 3

Whip-stitch the rolled fabric: but with a trick: insert the needle on an angle into the fabric each time you make a stitch, so that the thread whips up the little roll of fabric in a spiral.  This will help the gathering process.

The more stitches per inch, the finer the result.

Maintain tension on the fabric so that you can work speedily and not have to reposition the fabric, and maintain the same needle angle all the way.

Every so often, extend the thread to its length, and run the needle up it, letting the end of the thread fly, to take out extra twist in it. Otherwise, the thread is apt to tangle and it will drive you nuts. This is a tip from Frances Grimble's The Lady's Strategem.

This photo shows me maintaining tension on the
strip of fabric with my right hand while I insert
the needle on an upwards angle to start a
whip stitch. See the little bumps on the outer
edge of the whipped edge beneath my thumb?
Each of those lies between a stitch, so that 
you see the stitches are set closely.

Step 4

After a couple of inches of whipping, hold the the little whipped edge with one hand, and gently pull on the thread with the other. It's easier to pull the thread away from you than toward you: you want the thread to slide easily. The rolled and whip-stitched edge will pull into gathers and your frill/ruffle will take shape before your eyes.

To keep the gathers from flattening out again, immediately press the last stitch made between thumb and forefinger, and sew a half knot or two to hold that section. That locks the frilled section. Then you can arrange the gathers at will in the space left. Note that when you attach your ruffle or frill to whatever garment it is you're making, you'll make several stitches per inch, which will lock the frill in general into place.

You do not have to put that half knot in there, but know that your gathers will move all over the place in the meantime.

You should practice this portion of the process several times, to see how full or scant you want your frill. Just as in regular gathering, the tighter you pull the thread, the fuller the gather, and the looser you leave it, the scanter.

To my eye, gathers on things like caps were often quite scant.

More rolling of the fabric.

So there you go. I find this work relaxing, rapid for hand-sewing, and after a while can get a very fine edge. If you look at the picture above, you see that the rolled fabric at the top of my hands is larger than beneath. You will need to check yourself every so often to make sure you have consistent results.

What are the results like? Here are some examples from my costumes. First, the 1790s cloak.

Next, the hem of my wrap-front dress.

Hemming the Cloak
Second, the main body of the cloak is hemmed with a 1/8" hem, and the edges of the frill are hemmed the same way. The simplest way to do this is with a hemming attachment. I have a Willcox and Gibbs 1911 chain stitch treadle sewing machine that makes a magnificent hem, as well as the same model, an electric version, on long-term loan from my friend Miss Johnny. Here is a shot of Johnny's machine working on miles of flouncing several years ago:

Here is the little hemmer that makes it possible:

Here is the machine at work on a straight seam, several years ago:

I have no pictures yet of the process of whipping the resulting frill to the main cloak...it has its own little issues, naturally. Sewing always does.