my new dress (pics by Sophie)

[Keaniebean]

I'd love that please Mrs Fibble. It would be nice to make something witout a pattern and be more Grecian God than Oh My God!

[bonniethomas06]

bonniethomas06
my mum taught me basics when I was little, but I never really did much other than sew on the odd button before i got a sewing machine when soph was about a year old... i tried learning on that but as it was a 1930s russian foot pedal machine converted to electric in the 1960s, it wasn't easy. then i bought my own machine which broke, then i was given my Jones. basically I play with it a lot, see a technique I like and practise it etc; thi is my first proper shirring.
PBF: Canon EOS400D, my pride and joy lol.

Well I am impressed. You have inspired me Mrs Flib, I am halfway through my first ever skirt. Not sure I will ever wear it outside of the house, but it has been good practice, I have lined it and everything! Will put pictures up, but no laughing

[snapdragon]

Beeeautiful
I have a shirring attachment but I never did get the hang of it

[mrsflibble]

ok. the long awaited tutorial. firsty, leanr how to shirr. there are lots of online tutes for that lol.

then, measure your waist, and the fullest part f your bust.

measure where you'd like the waistband to be, i like mine just below the boobs to the middle of my first tyre; I'm chubby, why sugar coat it lol? so for me the depth is about 6-8" and that includes the seam allowance.
now take the waist measurement (WM), and if you want a slightly fitted but still flattering shirred part, double the measurement. if you'd like it a bit more fitted (like mine), then use 1.5 imes the WM. cut out an oblong of fabric, grain running either top to bottom or side to side. whicever you prefer.

shirr that. mark the centre. set aside. rethread your machine for normal sewing, allow yourself some swearing time.


now take your chest measurement and half it: this is your horizontal top measurement.
now measure from just above where the top of your bra is to where you want the waistband to sit. this is your vertical top measurement.
cut 2 pieces, one for front, one for back.
lay one piece down, WSF (wrong side facing), and holing the bottom corner, fold in and pin the short sides until you have a sort of loose trapezoid shape. topsew this, don't bother rolling the edges, nobody will see it!! do for the other piece and mark with chalk, pins, pencil etc which one you want to be the back, and which the front.

now take the front and fold over the top (shorter) edge about 1", WSF . sew so it makes a wide, tubey type hem. you will be threading your straps through this.

do the same for the back, but use a 2" fold instead, otheriwse you kind of look like you have back-boobage lol!! of course this depends on comfort and the size of your boobs. if you prefer a lower cut, do a bigger tube hem.

ok. done? good. now comes a difficult bit.

pin the front top to the waist, at one end; RSF (right sides facing), place in the machine and sew a short length of running stitch, backstitch and stop at your beginning point. you will need this security!!

pull the shirred part tight, until the other end of the top is at the midpoint on the waistband. pin here. now pull until the top is taught. the waist may still be a bit puckered or pleated, but don't worry. if you've measured everything right, it WILL work.

done? now have a cup of tea.

hello again!!

now for the back. pin RSF at centre point on waist, then follow instructions for the front.

you should now have a top, but it should still be flat. do not sew the sides together yet!

now for the skirt. you can make this any way you would a normal skirt, mine was basically taking my 1.5xwaist measurement by my mid-roll-of-flab-ankle measurement. cut this out of the fabric. you can do it in two halves, but i like being lazy and i had a whole double sheet to work with.

pin and sew onto the bottom edge of the shirred part the same way you did the front of the top.

you should now have a long strip which is looking more like a dress. you can be really lazy and hem the bottom of the skirt now too ;)

now, fold RSF, pin and sew from the top of the waistband to the bottom of the skirt. you now have a tube with two flaps at the top.

thread strings through the top of the back of the dress. you'll need it for the next bit! do the same for the front too. you can use cord, ribbon, yarn, string or make your own straps.

put on the dress. no. really. trust me. settle the waist where you want it, and lift the back and front to the point you like them to be. don't worry about gaping sides, we're going to fix them in a mo.

tie shoulders in place, and check the sides. pin together to stop gaping if you'd prefer. mine needed sewing about 6" from waist to middle of the top bodice. and remove dress.

turn inside out and sew fromyour pin to the waistband on both sides. turn the right way out, press seams, done.

[oldfella]

I only bit I understood was "cup of tea"

[Keaniebean]

Thanks for the tute Mrs F. I'm going to have a go at that. Hopefully sometime between now and next summer, but there is lots of things on the fast approaching Crimbo list to conquer first