Thursday, April 05, 2007
Shirred Dress Tutorial
The other night I made myself a shirred top. And then last night I made another shirred dress for Isabelle so I thought I would take some pictures and show how it’s done, a tutorial! You can click on all the pictures to see them larger.
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
- Fabric (I used less than 3/4 yard for Isabelle’s dress and probably less that 1 1/2 yards for my top. Look below at measuring to figure out how much you will need. )
- Thread
- Elastic Thread
MEASURING:
The dress is simply two rectangles and the straps 4 rectangles. You can play around with the numbers to adjust how full the dress is or how long or short to make it into a top.
Cut 2 pieces for dress:
Width- Measure around chest right under armpit.
Length- Measure from armpit down to desired length then add 2 inches.
For marking- armpit down to where you want shirring to end.
Example: Isabelle is 18.5 inches around the chest and I wanted her dress to be 19 inches long so I ended up with 2 pieces at 19 x 21. My top actually came out fuller then I would have liked using the above formula. (See what I mean about playing with the numbers.) Next time I want it slimmer so I’ll reduce the width. I think I could have probably gone down a good 10 inches.
Now the straps. Again you can play with these numbers but don’t go too short or you won’t have anything to tie with. And don’t go too skinny because it’s harder to sew. 
Cut 4 pieces for straps:
Width- Desired width of strap times 4.
Length- Measure up from the armpit to the top of your shoulder. Then add 10 inches to that. (Please double check this with your tape measure to see if it’s a comfortable length to tie with.)
Example: Isabelle’s straps were 14 x 1.5 and mine were 22 x 2. I wanted my straps a teensy bit wider.
SEWING:
1. I start with the strap pieces. You will do this with each of the 4 strap pieces. On one of the short sides I fold it up about 1/4 of an inch, wrong sides together (I iron all my folds). Then I fold the long side in half, wrong sides together. Open that up so you are left with a crease then fold the two edges of the long side to meet the crease you just made. And then fold once more so the edges are all inside.
Sew to close. Highlighted in red for example.
2. Next we move onto the dress pieces. You want to edge finish one side of your rectangle, the side where you got your chest measurement. For Isabelle that was the 19 inch side. I just use a zig zag stitch all the way down. Do that to both pieces.
3. Next is the strap placement. It’s sort of worrisome doing the straps first but it seems to work. If you’re worried it might not, you can adjust my directions and add the straps last. You want the straps at 1/4 and 3/4 along your piece. So fold your dress piece in half, wrong sides together with the zig zag edge on top. Then fold again. Line up one strap along the fold on the right side of your fabric with the unfinished edge of the strap along the zig zag edge. I like the nice clean edge of the strap to be the one showing on the sides so the stitched sides are closer to the neck. Mark your strap at 5/8 inch down.
4. Sew your strap to your dress piece by sewing a rectangle. Sew down to where your 5/8 inch mark is. Highlighted in red for example.
Repeat with the other 3 straps and you should have 2 dress pieces that look like this with the straps attached.
5. Next you sew the side seams right sides facing together using 5/8 inch seam allowance. Then edge finish the seams. I finish them by ironing them open then sewing a long straight stitch 1/4 inch from each edge and then pinking them with pinking shears. Make sure you set the machine’s thread stitch back to normal afterwards.
6. Fold top edge with straps down 3/4 inch and iron.
7. Fold hem up 1/2 inch and iron. Then fold again 3/4 inch and iron. Sew the hem. If you are making a top you might want to have a more narrow hem, at 1/4 and 1/4 inch. Just adjust the size of your piece accordingly.
Now you should have a tube like this.
8. Now the shirring. This might take some playing with so try it on some test fabric first. The more lines of shirring, the tighter it should be. If even after rows of shirring it seems like it’s still not tight enough you will need to wind the elastic on the bobbin tighter. Or if you’re impatient like me and you can’t figure out the shirring, you’ll just go ahead on the dress. And then when it doesn’t shirr tight enough you’ll end up gathering the shirring yourself. And you’ll think oh that’s not too bad, I can gather. But trust me. Shirring properly is faster than gathering and you use less elastic thread.
You’ll be using your regular thread in the needle and elastic thread in the bobbin. Hand wind the elastic thread onto the bobbin. Set your machine to a long stitch and looser than normal tension. Now with the right side facing up sew 5/8 inch down from the top edge where your straps are around the tube. Do not backstitch at the beginning or end of this row. Make sure you have enough elastic thread before cutting and then pull your top threads to the inside and tie knots in your threads. Then mark where you want the shirring to end and your shirring lines 5/8 inch apart. Or you can eyeball it like I did because I’m impatient. Sew your shirring lines, hold the fabric taut so it doesn’t bunch up.
All your elastic thread tied up in knots and trimmed. With Isabelle’s dress I had 5 lines of shirring. For my top I had 12.
And yay you’re done!
Hope that made sense. Let me know how it goes. I would love to see pictures if you used this tutorial and any changes you made or improvements.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:30 am
Thanks for the tutorial with pics. I’ve always been nervous about shirring but maybe I should give it a try this spring for at least one of my girls dresses.
By the way, I love the yellow fabric you used for your top.
April 6th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Hey, thank you verymuch for this tutorial! I’ll surely try it out and then I’ll show some pictures!
greetings
April 6th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
that’s how you do it!! i’ve been wondering how! i had some premade shirred fabric that i found in the remnant bin at joann’s but i’m not fond of the fabric color/print. now i can try my own!
April 6th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
it sounds like a perfect project for a beginner like me! I’m gonna try it later and send u some pics.
Thank you very much for the tutorial! I always thot Isabelle’s shirred dresses were adorable.
April 6th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
wow! thanks for the tutorial!! sure i’ll make one for ashley when i can use my sewing machine!
April 7th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Love top!! It’s so positively Spring. With the weather turning cold again here in GA, anything sunny and warm looking is a sight for these eyes. All the warm weather plants I put in to pots have been overnighting in house to keep from being ruined. Yuck. So here’s to ever warm - ever lovely - CA!
April 7th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Thank you so much for the tutorial. I can’t wait to try this! Your top is so cute!
April 7th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Oooh I look forward to seeing tops and dresses made!!
April 12th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Oh, I wish I was on better terms with my sewing machine so I could try one of these!
April 16th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
What a great tutorial! I love the step by step pictures, very nice! I want to try my hand at one of these, so cute!!!
May 4th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
I tried this, but I could not seem to get the shirring tight enough. I tried messing with the tension and I tightened the thread on the bobbin, I even tried different stitch lengths. Any thoughts on what I may have done wrong? I ended up gathering mine, which worked fine because it was a baby dress, but I would not want to gather on a shirt for me…
May 4th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Hey Karen,
Hope you come back and read this. I didn’t know how to contact you.
Looks like you had the same problem as I did when I first tried shirring. I tried everything too. It probably means you have to have the thread on your bobbin even tighter. I’ve read that you can try winding it with your machine. But be careful to let it sit and loosen a little before you put it into the machine. See if that works.
May 7th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Kuky, thanks so much for this tutorial! I made a dress for my daughter this weekend and was amazed at how easy it was to make something so cute! Your instructions were very easy to follow. The only part that I found difficult was to get the bobbin wound tight enough. I would tug at it as I was winding the elastic thread, but as soon as I would let go of it after plopping it into the machine it would recoil a little. After the first line of shirring, I felt it was not tight enough, so I kept re-doing it. After about 3 tries, I decided to just go ahead with the other lines to see if it would get significantly tighter. Boy oh boy, you weren’t kidding when you said it would get tighter with more lines of shirring. By line 8 or 9, I had to use my whole body to keep the garment taut. LOL I ended up with an even 10 lines. My neighbor saw the dress, and needless to say, I am making one for her daughter and another for mine this weekend.
THANK YOU! I’ll e-mail you a pic of my daughter wearing her dress soon.
May 7th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
These are JUST the instructions I was looking for, thanks so much! I’m trying to make skirt that I saw in Target and the top section (waist band) is shirred…..oh, I hope I can pull it off! Wish me luck!
May 21st, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Thanks for this tutorial - it answered a lot of questions I had after seeing other blog posts and flickr photos of this technique.
Your top and daughter’s dress are adorable! Thanks for sharing.
May 24th, 2007 at 11:30 am
i loved this! as soon as i saw it i went to work on one. they are so quick and easy! i have made 5 so far,one is posted on my blog. take a look youll be proud.
June 2nd, 2007 at 2:53 am
Thanx for this tutorial, after some problems with the shirring, I made three of them: See here
June 4th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Hi - your dresses / tops are beautiful! I’ve been practising shirring on a bit of scrap material and am just about getting the hang of it. I was just wondering about sizes though. Do you cur the width of the top exactly the same as your measurements, or do you need to cut the rectangle a bit wider to allow for the gathering? If so, how much wider would you need to cut? Thanks!
June 4th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Hi Sally,
You cut two pieces the same as your measurements. That will be nice and full for a dress. You can reduce it for a top if you don’t want it too full.
June 7th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Thanks for the tutorial. I’m hoping to try to make a dress/top for my daughter soon.
July 11th, 2007 at 7:54 am
I can not wait to try this… I am printing some fabric and this was just what I wanted to do with it.
July 31st, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I love your sewing works very much. Will drop-by often to admire those lovely FOs.
Thanks for sharing.
August 30th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
What a cute dress and blouse. I have been wanting to try this techneque, so I will save your instructions and give it a try.
YY
September 1st, 2007 at 12:56 am
Hi there Kuky, Your tuitorial was just what I was looking for. Thankyou. I have had a practice and can’t wait to get started. I’ll let you know how I get on. I’m planning on making a couple of summer dresses, like a knee length version of the top you made with maybe some lace at the bottom or a frill.
All the way from New Zealand
Belinda
September 5th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Hi there, me again!! I’ve made my first shirred tube dress and thanks to your infomation its turned out pretty good. I have a question though. What sort of material do you recommend using. I’ve used a polyester/cotton mix, which is a shiney sort of material and I find the shirring slides around a bit. Would appreciate any hints or tips about this.
Cheers
Belinda
Kuky says: Sorry I don’t really have an answer for you. I’ve only used cotton for this. It’s the only thing I have in my stash.
But I have a store bought shirred shirt that’s made with a knit and it’s very nice and comfy though I can’t say what it’s like to sew with.
September 6th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Thanks for the reply. I’ve noticed that the shiney material just seems to do that. Maybe you have to use another cotton. I made one out of Muslin today and it dosn’t slide so I guess its just the fabric. Another question though, do you tie up all the threads as you go along and do you tie up the cotton thread on the outside of the top/dress. Hope I’m not being a pain………cheers,
Belinda
Kuky says: No you’re not being a pain. Happy to help.
I tied up all the threads when I was done. And what I do with the cotton thread is using a hand sewing needle I bring them to the inside, knot them, then trim them.
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Thanks for the tutorials - I have made a top for my partner’s daughter’s birthday tomorrow using some seersucker I found cheap in an op shop. Think it was a blanket or something in a previous life!
here
here
Only made a few modifications - added lace to the bottom and plaited the straps instead of doing tie-up ones.
Also made the tiered skirt for my daughter from your tutorial:
here
Great site, thank you.
Kuky says: Oooh love the plaited straps!
November 14th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
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