Gauging Tutorial

Lizzie also taught me how to do gauging. What is gauging? It sounds really weird, but it really is a reenactor's term for cartridge pleating; gauging is what it was called in the Civil War. I like to call it gauging, because it makes me sounds like I know what I am doing and because no one really has any idea of what I'm talking about.
I once heard that gauging is just very organized gathering, which makes sense to me. Skirts were gauged instead of gathered, because it was much less bulky and looked very neat. Personally, I think it is also one of the faster things to hand sew, but sewing gathers takes longer.
To gauge, you will first need to take your skirt and press down about 2 inches; now is a good time to even your skirt out. Hems were done first, then evened out and controlled at the top. What I did for my sister's reenactment dress was blind stitch the hem, then did relatively about 2 inches; I measured from the hem and made it a little more in some areas.

The next part is a little time consuming; best to turn on an audio or a movie! Taking a ruler and pen (pencil if your fabric is thin), mark out every half inch along just the very top edge. All the way around. This takes quite a lot of time. Then mark out every half inch about a quarter inch down from your first set. This takes just as much time.
Some tutorials don't have this, and they just say to do very even stitches, but by doing it this way, it is very precise. Some tutorials also say to do 3 rows of stitches; this makes it look more like pleats that gathers, but I prefer the more gathered look.

Take a needle and thread (no machines; that's cheating!) and sew along the first dotted line using a double thread, going in and out at the dots.  For your skirt, measure your waist and add about, oh, maybe 10 inches, and just push gathers into the skirt as you go. I made the mistake of doing different threads for each panel in my skirt (4 panels), and now I have a lot of threads hanging off that I don't really need. You will spare yourself if you make it all on one thread. Do the same for the second set, but make sure that if you went out for the first stitch on the first row, you do the same for the other first stitch, so that the stitches are synchronized. Like this:

 If you have multiple panels on your skirt, then take your waist band (I just used a grosgrain ribbon on my dress and in this example), and mark out where you want the panels to line up with the ribbon. For instance, I wanted the back seam on one panel to match up with the center back on the top, so I found the middle of the ribbon to match that up to. I did the same with the other panels, so that one seam would line up with the back, two at the sides, and the front would line up with the ends of the ribbon, because it has an opening at the front.
Pull both threads to gather and match them to the areas marked on your waistband. Pin it together, right sides together.

Tie off the thread once you match up the ribbon to the skirt.
Take a needle and a closely matched thread, and with a double thread, pick up just the inside fold of the first pleat and through the ribbon, just the very edge. Like this:

Keep stitching, picking up just the close edge of the fabric and the very edge of the ribbon until you reach the end. Because my skirt closes in the front and because I made an error in the cutting, I didn't have pleats up to the very end of my ribbon, so I just whip stitched it together. Here is what it should look like when it is finished:

It sort of looks funny on the wrong side with the other unsewn edges hanging off, but that is the key to the entire thing. When worn, because it is only sewn on the very edge, it keeps the bulk of the pleats off your waist. If it had been sewn flat, like a gather, then it would be smooshed against you; very uncomfortable! But by only catching the very side, it causes it to hinge out, away from you. When worn with a hoop, it looks not quite so stiff. The fold that you did at the beginning also helps the gauging to keep it's shape.
One last thing: keep the stitches in! If they are sufficiently squished together, you should not be able to see them very well. If the bottom thread is still visible, pull it a little tighter.