Shirring!

Today I tackled shirring for the first time!  I'd seen several blogs with tutorials on making dresses and skirts using shirring, and I was excited to give it a try.  It seemed an easy and versatile skill to learn, so I went to Joann this morning and got a purple stretch knit and some elastic thread.  The recommendations by one site were to take the measurement of the fullest part of your body (for me, the hips) and multiply it by 1.25.  The fabric I found at Joann was exactly the width I needed, so I got one yard and figured that would be long enough, and I could hem it if need be. 

Shirring is so stinking easy.  If you haven't tried it, you should!  I loaded my regular thread up top, and hand-wound the elastic thread on the bobbin (don't stretch it as you wind it).  Then sew in lines along the top your fabric with your stitch length at its longest.  As you do more and more lines of shirring, you do need to stretch the fabric out as you go, but it's not at all hard.  Make sure you backstitch at the beginning and end of each row too to secure your stitching.  I also had to make sure to use the correct needle for the fabric I was using.

I used special jersey/ballpoint needles for this fabric, and you can see one of the 10's is missing from the case.  The woman at Joann suggested starting with the 10 and moving to the 12 if necessary, but the 10 was perfect.

Shirring in action!

I lined up the edge of my presser foot with the previous row to keep the rows evenly spaced.

               

I tried on the dress and it could have been a little snugger, but it wasn't falling down.  In the future, I would use my bust measurement for a dress, and use the hip measurement for a skirt.  The length ended up being just about perfect, so I was just going to do a 1-inch hem.  I've never used knit fabric before, and I'm pretty sure I did the hem completely wrong!  Oh well, lesson learned!

Super comfy!  Not the most flattering, but someday I'll learn to make stuff that is comfy AND flattering!

Here's a link to the tutorial I used:

Convertible Dress

I'm finally feeling like a sewer!

I finished a top!  But before I get to that, I'd like to catch you up on the house:  It appears that we are approved, and are just ironing out details at this point.  We're signing/turning in whatever documents the bank wants, getting our homeowner's insurance lined up, and narrowing down a closing date (looking like the 23rd).  We just need the final approval from the bank!  We drove past the house the other day and I was thrilled to see a "SOLD" sign in the yard!!

Now onto sewing...

My bestie had her second child last week (May 3rd to be exact) and the little girl is just precious!  I snapped this pic of my husband holding her, and doesn't he just look good with a baby in his arms?

So I made some burp clothes.  And then I made them again, because I made the first ones too small (like, washcloth small).  I got half a yard of basic quilting cotton and half a yard of snuggle fleece and it made four burp cloths.  Super easy and fast project. Here's the tutorial I used.

I also made a top this week using Simplicity 2147.  I made the tunic length, though I would love to make the dress one day too.  This is a "Learn to Sew" pattern, though I found that the directions weren't any more explicit than a regular pattern.  My saving grace was this video from Professor Pincushion, which took me step by step through making this top. I'd also like to point out this pattern only goes up to size 18, and normally I would make a 20 or 22 depending on the garment. However, I felt that since this was fitted only in the upper bust/shoulder area and loose everywhere else I could make the 18, and it worked.

So I followed along with the video, and this top was so simple!  I used bias tape along the neck for the first time (easy!) and made pleats for the first time (SUPER easy!).  I made it with 2 yards of a crinkly green cotton lawn from Fabric.com, and while it is beautiful and breezy, it was a difficult choice for only my second garment ever.  Aside from that, I will be making this top/dress again.  I'd like to try it with a cotton lawn or linen blend, or maybe a lightweight broadcloth.  Next time, I'll also skip making the pleats in the back as it makes the top very poofy.  I've heard other people mention that they would remove the pleats, but no one said how, so I'm think center back seam, but any advice would be welcome.  Now for some shots of yours truly:

Pardon my hair.  On my days off, I refuse to touch a blow dryer. Now for reference, this is me this morning just before my run.  You can see that I am no skinny-minnie, but neither am I The World's Largest Woman.

And this is me with my new shirt on.

Welcome to Poof City, population me.  I really think eliminating the back pleats will help.  Either way, I still love it because it's so comfortable.