So two years ago, the long Easter/Royal Wedding weekend to be precise, I was camping up in Perthshire, and I popped into Karelia House, a craft/fabric shop, where I found a bolt of French General’s Rural Jardin, which has a slight border print, and I thought it would be perfect to make a shirred summer dress from. I hadn’t even thought of venturing into quilting at that point, but clothing I was okay with, and really, shirring is easy, right?
Nothing daunted, a few weeks later I started trying to shirr it. Oh dear. That was the weekend that I discovered that Baby Brother, and in fact Brothers in general, were not fans of shirring in a conventional way. Then I thought I might trying sewing the elastic on at least, and then pull it to get the tension afterwards. That worked right up until I realised that some of the stitches went through the elastic. So by that point I had 20 rows of elastic stitched to fabric that I couldn’t shirr, with about a quarter of it that was actually what it ought to look like. Crapbiscuits. I did what anyone would do at that point, and balled it up and threw it into a dark corner…
It lay there right up until madam over here went and showed off how easily she had made a shirred dress from a Nordika border print. Damn her. Not to be outdone I dug the offending outcast and started to unpick. And unpick. And unpick. And good grief that took for-flipping-ever! So here it is now:
That thread/elastic ball is a good 6″ in diameter. Just so you know.
Now I’m in a bit of a quandry. The bit that sat shirred for 2 years is, well, kinky, but the rest is flat. So I’m hoping a wash will sort it out, but I think I’ll have to overlock the sides before I do that so it doesn’t unravel. What do you reckon? I’m pretty sure an iron is not going to do it!
The good news is, that Big Brother has a special bobbin casing for this sort of thing. Better go and find the user guide…
oh good luck, its one of the many things i never got round to trying…
A good steam press should help, no?
I'd definitely wash it – maybe just a rinse and spin will be enough to bring it back to life? Good luck!
A lot of steam worked a treat when I tried. Of course that was on two skirts and I never did wear them due to the fact they made me look like a fat assed dwarf.
*snorting with laughter at Jan the fat ass*
Good luck with the kinkiness and re-shirring!
no suggestions, sorry, but well done for digging it out of its corner
Two years in the naughty corner certainly taught this thing a lesson ..now go and steam press it (carefully!) and move on with the rest of this dress.
Ouch! I'm not brave enough to try shirring – but I'd love to hear how you go second time around!
Shirring scares me! Can't wait to seen it when it is all done!
I've never tried whirring so I am no help! And I'd have given up long ago!
You deserve an unpicking medal!! (Re: de-crinkling: what about just a gentle dip in some water, without agitation…?)
hehehehehehe! Sorry! Washing it should get it out – I slghtly overshirred by about 6 rows when I made mine, so unpicked a bit. All was fine after a wash and a press 😀
You could just wash the top part, dunk it in the sink for a while and then let it dry in the air (maybe roll in a towel first) and that would limit the jostling that will cause the seams to unravel. If you are washing in the machine I would staystitch or overlock if there is no room for a trim. It will not unravel much but a little. Washing will totally fix that problem by the way.
Madam has spoken! I have no experience but apparently she has – do as she says! Then send it to her to do the shirring!
Oh my gosh, I can't believe you unpicked all of that! I would have just started with new fabric, guh. I hope you have fun shirring it anyway — I made a shirred skirt once, and it was very comfy! Not incredibly flattering, but very comfy! 😀
Wow. . you take on projects like I do! I am waiting to hear how it went. Oh and that manual helps.. well kinda.