A novel in-layer incremental forming technology was proposed. Then, the distributions of equivalent stress, equivalent strain, sheet thickness and uniformity, and axial force of 6061 aluminum alloy sheet under ordinary incremental forming and in-layer incremental forming processes were compared and analyzed, and the numerical simulation results and sheet forming quality were verified by experiments. The results show that the equivalent stress, equivalent strain,sheet thickness and axial force of the sheet formed by in-layer incremental forming are relatively uniform. Among them, the values and fluctuation ranges of equivalent stress, equivalent strain and axial force are smaller, significantly better than those of ordinary incremental forming. The forming accuracy is also better than that of ordinary incremental forming. However, the average thickness of sheet measured in the fixed path is less than that of ordinary incremental forming, and the forming efficiency is low. Thus, the in-layer incremental forming improves the forming accuracy and forming quality,and partially overcomes the disadvantages of incremental forming, providing a new processing method for the flexible processing.