Hello sew-friends! Today, I'm sharing my top eight tips for sewing shirring with elastic thread. Shirring creates a stretchy gathered fabric that fits closely to the body. It's often used in the torso, bust, back, waist, neckline and wrist areas of a pattern. There are lots of possibilities! You can actually buy fabric that is already shirred along one selvage but when you learn how to sew your own, you'll have a lot more design opportunities. Shirring has a big design impact and is a great way to create a fitted garment that's also really comfy.
Free Printable Download — Fabric Shopping Checklist
Have you ever gotten to the fabric store and realized that you have no idea how much fabric you need to buy? Or worse, you just got home, after battling rush hour traffic, to realize that you forgot to buy matching thread or that particular width of elastic? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven to the store to buy matching thread and realized that I forgot to bring a swatch of the fabric. Or how about the realization that the fabric you bought won’t work for your project?
How to Transfer Pattern Markings onto Fabric
Hello sew-friends! Today's video is taking a deep dive into marking tools for fabric. After you cut out your fabric, the first thing you need to do is transfer all the pattern markings from the pattern to the fabric. Trust me, you don't want to skip it! In this post, I'll chat briefly about pattern markings and why they're important. Then, I'll share a variety of tools that can transfer marks to fabric and the pros and cons of each. Plus, I'll demonstrate how to mark a dart using a tracing wheel and transfer paper and how to mark a dart using a hole punch and chalk. Let's get started!