My shirring was way too tight and this helped me realise that the bobbing was the problem as I could barely pull the elastic by hand Thank you so much! 💚
OM-GEE, you made me subs to you, for I love the way you explain every little tips and detailed unlike the others I have watched, some details are left out, but yours is outstanding..I can’t wait to watch for your next one…thank you for sharing.
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing those helpful tips!! So useful. I do like to wear dresses and tops with Shirring style. And I do love sewing but never tried Shirring out myself. But you explain it so great that I believe I can manage LOL 😆 if not I will be back 😃😃😃
If your bobbin runs out midway through a stitch, simply reload your bobbin with elastic thread and sew overtop the end of the previous stitch with a backstitch and continue sewing. Your final shirred fabric will be so textured that you won't see the backstitch ;)
Thank you so much for this tutor video, it has given me confidence to start my shirring project. Your delivery is clear, concise and easy to follow. Thank you.
That's so great to hear, Joan! I'm so glad that this gave you a boost in confidence. I hope your project turns out great and that you have fun with the technique!
My elastic popped every time I tried shirring before watching this. And as soon as you said ‘high quality elastic’, I thought I was DONE FOR 💀 but it ended up being the tension on the bobbin 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 also, following your instruction, the shirring was not only successful the first try, but after I finished, I realized my top thread was missing the cap and wobbling like crazy... all that to say, your method was so helpful that it even surpassed my extreme user error 🤣🤣
Yaaay, you did it! I'm so happy that it worked out. There are so many little things that can contribute to it not working, so you really just have to take it one step at a time. I hope you've enjoyed the technique.
Hi, thanks for that amazing tutorial. I wanted to ask about stitching the item to the piece of clothing and measurements? How to know how much fabric to add for this kind of effect so it fits well, and how to sew it in to the back of a dress for example? do you have a example? thank you
Hi Rosie, thanks for the great question. As for how much fabric to add, I tend to work with a 2:1 ratio, meaning that I double the length of the piece that needs to be shirred. There is always an exception to this rule, for example, if you are using a very lightweight fabric for your shirring, it will reduce more in size. If you are using a heavier-weight fabric, it will reduce less in size. As for sewing the shirred piece to a non-shirred piece (I hope I am understanding your question correctly), I would compare it to when you are sewing a gathered piece to a non-gathered piece. You want the shirred piece to match the length of the adjoining piece and allow for puckers to exist along the seam of the shirred piece since this is the nature of shirring. You may find this blog post helpful as a visual reference. victorypatterns.com/blogs/victory-patterns-blog/finishing-the-sofia-dress. In this post, I sew the shirred bodice to a skirt waistline. I hope that clarifies things for you. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
I use a 2:1 ratio, meaning that you would double the measurement. That being said, the shirring results can vary based on your fabric, elastic thread, and sewing machine. It's a good idea to do a test on your final fabric to determine your shirring take up. I suggest starting with a rectangle of fabric cut to 10" x 5". Sew shirring across the width. Ideally, it should reduce to 5" wide. Don't forget to steam as that will help to shrink it. You can adjust the settings as mentioned in the video to achieve various tension/stretch. That test will help you determine if you need to adjust your ratio. For example, if it shrinks to 7.5" you may want to reduce your ratio to 1.5: 1, provided you've gone through all the machine's tensions settings and are still getting the same results. I hope that helps!
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I was wondering, when finishing my seems on the overlock machone (with the edges being cut) will it not make the shirring thread weak?
Good question, Colinette. You can absolutely overlock the edges. When you're sewing the shirring, you will either be using the continuos method, or you will sew a backstitch. In the instance of the continuous method, make sure to pivot before reaching the edge of the fabric, about 3/8" away from the edge to be safe. In the instance of backstitching, make sure to sew the backstitch just before reaching the fabric edge, but sewing it still withing the seam allowance; this way when you serge the edge, you will not trim off the shirring stitch.
Unfortunately, that information isn't provided on my elastic thread, but I can tell you that the brand that I use is "Unique". I'm sure there are many other great options out there, but this brand has served me well.
I've been shirring some dresses and tops for my granddaughters using lightweight quilting cotton. The fabric pieces are straight rectangles and I sewed the side/back seams together first and then shirred the fabric (it was basically a tube). My shirring gathers have not been as tight as I'd like and I wondered if shirring "in the round" like this decreases the amount of the shirring effect? Or do I just need to play more with my tension? Thanks so much.
Hi Jaymie, so sweet of you to sew dressed for your granddaughters! The fact that the fabric is sewn in a tube will not affect the result of the shirring. You likely have to play with the bobbin tension, upper thread tension, and stitch length. One or a combination of these things will likely give you results. Best of luck with it!
When referring to "too loose" or "too tight", would you say the correct tension for the elastic thread is for it to have the same tension when pulled from the bobbin case as regular thread when sewing normally? I just want to double-check before I loosen my bobbin tension.
Good question! You want the tension for the elastic thread to be looser than with the regular thread. Once placed into the bobbin case, the elastic thread should release more easily in comparison to regular thread. For example, with regular thread, if you place the bobbin into the bobbin case and dangle the case by holding the tail of bobbin thread, the case should not drop when held still. If you give the thread/case a bit of a bounce, it should then only drop about 2 inches. This is roughly how much tension release you should have for the regular thread. With elastic thread, if you dangle the case when holding the thread tail, the case should drop slightly when held still. I hope that makes sense!
Hi Maria, I'm sorry but I don't understand your questions. What do you mean one side is ballooned? Could you give me a clear description of what you are talking about?
I dont get why when i use a stitch length of say 3.5 or 4 which is the highest my machine goes, it barely shirrs but when i go down to 2 it gives a better gather. Yet all the videos say higher is better. Its still not as puckered as youra though. Im using cotton fabric, not too heavy. Also one end puckers much more than the other 🙉
Hi Ivorie (what a beautiful name!) Yes, you can use polyester fabric. It's not so much the fiber content that this technique is dependant on, but more so the weight of the fabric. If the fabric is too heavy, you will have difficulty seeing results. No matter what fiber content, try to use something that is light to midweight, and always experiment with a sample first to see how it works on your fabric.
@@ktothebb OMG, I'm sorry I read your reply late. 😭 Yes, I did shirred in polyester fabric but I think there's a problem in my elastic thread, so I didn't push to continue. 😅😂 Anyway, thank you for noticing me and my beautiful name! 💓 You're pretty too! More power and Gobless us. ✨ Thanks. 💜
Hey! Try lengthening the stitch length. I start with 4.5 mm. You should also check the bobbin tension to make sure it's giving enough resistance to create the stretch. Also, make sure that you're using a good quality elastic thread. I hope that helps!
Hi Keith, good question. I haven't tried shirring on stretch fabric myself but my concern would be that the fabric would become very distorted and difficult to work with. Also, I suspect that depending on how stretchy your fabric is, if you stretch it beyond the capacity of the straight stitch on the top side of the shirring, that your stitches will break. I would be hesitant to recommend it, but it doesn't hurt to do a little experiment on a small sample of stretch fabric. If you do try it, let me know how it goes.
@@saritshull3909 For shirring both sides of the bodice, I'd say it took me about an hour and a half. That being said, I sewed up a lot of these in the development of this pattern, so I think if you were new to the technique, it would take you longer. I definitely suggest spending time on scrap fabric making sure the threading is set up properly, and take a look at the guide foot tutorial, as it will save you some time in sewing.
@@saritshull3909 Sorry, I read that as "have at it". The length will depend on a few factors; your machine, your elastic thread, and your fabric, but I usually set it to about 4.
I recently bought the Sophia pattern and cannot open it. I get an error message that it was not properly decoded. I went into the website and sent a message several days go and have not gotten a response. Has anyone encounter this issue and if so what did you do?
Hi Mattie, I received your email and I replied to it. I've just looked into your email address and the one associated with your order is a gmail address, however, the one used to contact via the website is a yahoo address. I'll resend the reply to the gmail address and if you don't see it, look in your junk mail or let me know here if you're having an issue receiving it.
Hi Vitória, I'm so sorry to hear that you're having this issue. I know it can be tricky to get the settings just right. It sounds like your tension is set too high, either on the bobbin, or the machine's tension dial. First, make sure that you've wound the bobbin properly; not too tight, and not too slack. Load the bobbin into the case, and reduce the tension a little bit on the case, so that the thread has slight tension, but pull from the bobbin easily. If you have a drop-in bobbin, you may need to review your machine's manual on how to adjust the bobbin tension. Try a few rows of shirring to see if this resolves it. You may need to play with the bobbin tension a bit to find the sweet spot. If you're still having this issue, try reducing your machine's tension. The tension disk will generally help to control the amount of stretch you achieve from the shirring, but if set too high, it can cause issues. I hope that helps!
