Mama needs maternity clothes. Big time. I refuse to buy more. I’ve successfully not been the same size for longer than a month in the past 4 years….soooooo I’m looking for things that can transition easily from pregnancy to nursing to normal me (not totally sure what that is anymore). Enter the shirred dress.
There are TONS of resources on shirring that can be found online. Seamwork Magazine’s post here and Made by Rae’s post here were incredibly helpful. I did make my first video tutorials (learned that I need to get better lighting…promise I’ll fix that before the next one) and will post them at the end as well.
I have gleaned a few big take aways from my experience with shirring:
- PRACTICE: all fabric shirrs differently-make sure to practice every single time. Practice using different seam allowances between stitches. A quarter inch seam allowance will create a more tight shirring effect than a half inch.
- Stitch length matters-you need to make sure to have a long enough stitch length to allow the fabric to get gathered in each stitch. For me, this is usually a stitch length of 4mm.
- Tension: play with your tension as well. If you don’t have a tight enough tension the top thread looks kind of floppy because the bottom (elastic) thread squishes the fabric up. For me, this was a tension of 5.
- Hand wind up several bobbins with elastic thread-if you run out of bobbin thread in the middle of one of your shirring stitch lines, you have to undo the whole thing and start over. Check your bobbin frequently.
- I had a lot more luck threading my bobbin thread with Maria’s machine (that doesn’t have an automatic threader and has a top loading bobbin) than I did with my machine (front loading, automatic threader). If you have a machine without an automatic bobbin threader-use this one.
- Buy your elastic thread in bulk, its A LOT less expensive and that way you won’t run out. I’ve linked up the one I used.
Otherwise, this is seriously not tricky guys! Give it a try! I used Liberty of London Fabric from Farmhouse Fabrics. I can see it in lawns, swiss dots, voile, batiste, or any other light weight fabrics. It could be used in so many ways, on the bottom of a puff sleeve as the sleeve band, or as a neck band to a dress to create a ruffle collar are a few examples that come to mind.
My First “Vlog”
Step 1: Wind the Bobbin
Step 2: thread machine
Step Three: Stitch!
Step Four: Tie off Threads
Step Five: Second Row
Step Six: Admire your work!
