Tutorial: Summer Dress with Elastic Thread (Shirring)

Edited on July 17th:  Click here for more pictures of the dress featured in this tutorial!

When I was a little kid growing up in the early-1980s  I remember wearing a dress or romper with shirring on the top almost everyday.  Many would be made out of cotton, but my favorites were terry cloth.  Some had straps, some didn’t.  I remember they were so comfortable and easy to take on and off–a big deal for a four year old who liked to dress herself and spent everyday at the pool.

Imagine my delight when I saw that elastic thread was making a come back this year–just in time for MM to get to wear it like her mom did!

Elastic thread is so easy to sew with. All you do is have your normal sewing thread in the top of your machine and then you wind your bobbin was the elastic thread. {Some people choose to hand wind it, but since I have a drop-in bobbin I let my machine auto-wind it.}  The black thread is the elastic thread, but it comes in other colors.

When you decide what you’re going to sew–in this case we’re sewing a short dress for MM–you need to double the width because the elastic thread will shrink the fabric. I used one of MM’s dresses that fits and then doubled the fabric for this dress.

Then mark lines either 1/2″ or 1″ apart {I did 1/2″ here} with a water soluble fabric marker. This will help you sew in a straight line. I did five of these lines.

Sew along these lines (make sure you backstitch at the beginning and end of each line). I use normal thread length and tension.

I did this for both pieces {the front and the back pieces}.Then I matched the pieces up, right sides together, pinning to make sure the lines match up all the way around perfectly.

Then I added extra-wide double bias tape to the top and bottom of the dress {one pack did just fine on this dress} so I wouldn’t have to hem or finish edges…what can I say, I’m lazy!

I added ribbon straps because…well, because it was 4pm on a Friday and I was getting lazy…oh, yeah, I already admitted I’m lazy.  Oops. You definitely could do some cute fabric straps…or make it a halter!

The very last step is to spray the elastic thread areas with a water bottle and then press with an iron. Don’t move the iron around like regular ironing–nope, just pick it up and put it down, over and over. It will cause the elastic to shrink even more.And here’s Miss MM modeling her little dress.

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