Pintuck Skills Workshop
Learn to sew beautiful pintucks in this online sewing class! Discover how to mark, stitch, and press pintucks by hand and with a twin needle, create dimensional corded pintucks, and plan stunning pintuck grids and panels. You'll also learn to adjust pattern pieces for fabric take-up so your finished garment fits perfectly. Whether you're adding a subtle detail or a bold design element, this class makes pintucking approachable, fun, and totally doable.
Seamwork Members: Free!
Non-Members: $49
Class opens to members on September 1, 2026.
Available to non-members October 1, 2026.
Small Details, Big Impact
There's something quietly satisfying about a row of perfectly formed pintucks — the kind of detail that makes a handmade garment look intentional, polished, and entirely your own. This workshop gives you the skills to add that signature touch to shirts, blouses, yokes, and sleeves, transforming simple fabric into something with texture, dimension, and character.
- Build lasting confidence with a technique you'll use again and again
- Add a refined, heirloom-quality detail to everyday garments
Introducing
Pintuck Skills Workshop
This workshop breaks the technique down step by step, from your first folded tuck to corded, gridded, and sculptural variations. By the end, you'll have the skills—and the muscle memory—to bring this detail to any project you dream up.
By the end of this course you’ll be able to:
- Identify what pintucks are and where they're used in garment sewing
- Choose the tools and supplies that give you the best results
- Sew pintucks using the single needle method
- Sew pintucks with a twin needle, with and without cord
- Create corded pintucks using a pintuck foot
- Plan evenly spaced pintuck layouts and grids
- Adjust your pattern pieces before sewing pintucks
- Use pintucks as shaping elements and decorative features
- Troubleshoot common pintuck problems
Meet Your Teacher
Erica is the Head of Education at Seamwork. She’s been sewing since she was 10 and taught sewing at a fabric store for 12 years. She loves the endless possibilities sewing your own clothes offers, and she's excited to share her knowledge with you.
Course Lessons
Lesson 1: Class Overview
Get an overview of what this workshop covers, from sewing pintucks by hand and with a twin needle, to creating dimensional corded pintucks, planning grids and panels, and adjusting pattern pieces for fabric take-up. This lesson sets the foundation for the class.
Lesson 2: What Pintucks Are and Where To Use Them
Learn what sets a pintuck apart from a pleat or a tuck, and where this classic technique shows up in garment sewing — from shirt plackets to heirloom bodices to decorative yokes. This lesson also covers which fabrics work best for pintucking, so you can choose the right materials.
Lesson 3: Tools and Supplies
Get a rundown of the tools and supplies you'll need for pintuck work, from fabric and thread to specialty presser feet and twin needles. This lesson covers how to choose the right needle, foot, and cord, so you're fully set up before sewing your first pintuck.
Lesson 4: Basic Pintucks - the Single Needle Method
Learn the single needle pintuck method step by step, the most fundamental technique for creating a pintuck. This lesson covers marking and pressing accurate placement lines, folding and stitching each tuck at a consistent width, and pressing your finished tucks for a clean, professional result.
Lesson 5: Twin Needle Pintucks
Learn the twin needle pintuck method, including how to choose a compatible needle width, thread two spools correctly, and adjust your tension to form a clean ridge. This lesson also covers marking and stitching your own twin needle pintuck sample from start to finish.
Lesson 6: Corded Pintucks
Learn how to add cord to your twin needle pintucks for a more defined, sculptural look. This lesson covers setting up and threading cord through your pintuck foot, troubleshooting distortion and tension issues, and creating a corded pintuck sample to compare against your uncorded swatches.
Lesson 7: Pintuck Spacing and Styles
Learn how spacing and layout shape the look of your pintucks, from dense textural rows to graphic, widely spaced tucks. This lesson covers creating grids, wave effects, and curved pintucks, so you can plan a cohesive design before you start stitching.
Lesson 8: Sewing Pintucks Before Cutting Pattern Pieces
Learn how to sew pintucks before cutting your pattern piece, so your finished garment piece comes out the right size and shape. This lesson covers calculating fabric take-up, adding buffer for your pattern piece, and marking, stitching, and cutting a pintucked panel step by step.
Lesson 9: Pintucks as Design Features on a Garment
Discover real-world ways to use pintucks as design details on a garment, from classic shirt fronts and yokes to sleeves, necklines, and hemlines. This lesson offers ideas and placement guidance to help you plan your own pintuck application before cutting into your pattern.
Lesson 10: Troubleshooting Pintucks
Learn how to identify and fix the most common pintuck problems, including uneven spacing, twisting, puckering, and flat or weak ridges on twin needle work. This lesson gives you practical troubleshooting tips so you can get clean, consistent results every time.
Lesson 11: Put It Into Practice
Discover Seamwork patterns where you can put your pintuck skills into practice, from the Bloom blouse and Kemper yoke to pintucked trousers like the Callahan and Birch. This lesson also offers ideas for modifying a pattern or building your own sampler, so you're ready to start your next project.
What’s Included
You’ll get:
- 10 video lessons that take you through everything you need to know in order to master pintucks.
- A live demo where you can watch the process start to finish and ask questions along the way.
- Handy downloads, including swatch cards, a troubleshooting guide, a step-by-step photo guide, and fabric calculation guides in imperial and metric.
About our Skills Workshops
Each month, we create a new 30-day live Skills Workshop, focusing on helping you improve one particular sewing ability.
We alternate these with our seasonal Design Your Wardrobe program, and all these resources are available for free to our members.
It’s part of our SEAM method, to help you learn as you sew:
- Seasonally plan the wardrobe you want to wear
- Explore unlimited access to 250+ patterns
- Advance your skills through targeted workshops
- Make connections in our supportive community
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a skill workshop?
- Each month, we focus on a single sewing skill, helping you build your expertise step by step. Over time, you'll create your own skills library with technique samples you can reference again and again. You can apply these skills to any pattern you choose, allowing you to learn while making something you truly want to wear!
How does it work?
- The workshop is made up of self-paced video modules you can watch whenever it fits your schedule. Go at your own pace!
- We will release the workshop on the first day of the month, and then it will be available to you as a member anytime moving forward. There will be video lessons and downloads that you can access anytime, and you’ll be able to go at your own pace through the course material.
- During the month the workshop is released, we will be posting about it in the community and sending emails to keep you motivated so that you can share progress and inspire each other. A new Skill Workshop will be released each month, except for the months where we are doing Design Your Wardrobe.
- You will be able to access this skill workshop anytime starting on September 1, 2026.
Will I be able to interact with other people who are also in the workshop?
- You’ll receive weekly email reminders and forum prompts to keep you motivated and connected with fellow sewists. You’ll be able to ask questions and get feedback to build your skills even more. We’ll also have a live Zoom event for even more interactive learning.
Which pattern should I use to learn the skill?
- We’ve designed these workshops so that you can learn the skill AND pick a pattern that works for you and your style. Unlike a sewalong, you don’t have to make one specific project.
What if I’m not ready to make a pattern? Can I still learn the skill?
- Absolutely! Cut out some test fabric and practice, practice, practice. Use the handy downloadable sample cards to keep things organized and easy to reference later.
Pintuck Skills Workshop
Learn to sew beautiful pintucks in this online sewing class! Discover how to mark, stitch, and press pintucks by hand and with a twin needle, create dimensional corded pintucks, and plan stunning pintuck grids and panels. You'll also learn to adjust pattern pieces for fabric take-up so your finished garment fits perfectly. Whether you're adding a subtle detail or a bold design element, this class makes pintucking approachable, fun, and totally doable.