Shirring tutorial

Below is a tutorial on how to shirr with elastic thread. Before we begin, I must mention that this is a compilation of shirring techniques which I have learned from 3 specific resources: Portabellopixie, Craftstylish, and Heather Ross's book Weekend Sewing.

And away we go.......

Supplies

~ 1 spool of elastic thread
~ matching thread (must match your fabric)
~ fabric (i used Robert Kaufman's Kona Cotton Celery)
~ 1/4" elastic (optional)

Instructions

1. Finish the upper raw edge of the bodice. I like to finish it by making a casing for a 1/4" elastic band. If you have 2 separate pieces (bodice and skirt) sewn together, you can turn the seam allowance into a casing for an additional band of elastic at the waist line. Simply finish the raw edge of the seam allowance and sew the edge of the SA to the bodice. After I have shirred the fabric, I then thread the elastic through the casing. This helps maintain and reinforce the shape of the garment. For now, just make the casing or finish the raw edges.

You may want to mark your shirring lines on the fabric before you begin. Its recommended to mark every 1/4" to 1/2". I use my sewing foot to mark it (eyeball it), which works just fine for me and eliminates a step. If you are going to mark your fabric, mark the right side of the garment (visible side of the garment). Also, use tailors chalk, disappearing fabric ink, or some sort of erasable mark.

2. Wind the bobbin by hand with the elastic thread. It is very important not to stretch the elastic thread as you wind it. This is why you must do it by hand. There can not be any tension in the elastic thread.

3. Insert your bobbin into your sewing machine as you normally would.

4. Pull up the elastic thread as you normally would for regular bobbin thread.

5. I like to shirr with my walking foot. If you do not have a walking foot, then a regular foot will be just fine. With the right side of your garment facing up (elastic thread should be on the side that will not be visible on the completed garment), begin to take a few stitches, then back stitch to secure your thread. Stitch from one end to the other.

7. When you get to the end of your first row of stitches, back stitch and clip the threads. Turn the garment and begin sewing your next row the same way you did the first row. Another option (which is quicker) is when you get to the end of your first row of stitches, lift the presser foot, move the fabric over so that the needle is positioned over the next row. Lower the presser foot and needle. Pivot the fabric. Begin sewing the next row of stitches.

Always back stitch when you come to the end of the elastic thread and make sure you have enough thread to complete a row. You may notice your first couple of rows don't gather as much as you'd like. Don't worry. As you continue to stitch more rows, your garment will gather more.

8. When you have completed shirring/smocking your garment, spray it with water. You will see your garment gather up nice and tight. Press your garment gently. Do not smooth the iron over the garment. Lightly press the gathers.

9. Thread your elastic through the casing/casings.

10. Stitch the elastic band ends to the garment.

That's it!
You're a shirr genius!

Happy Creating =)

Jamie
Update: The Honey Girl Dress/Top sewing pattern (shown above) is available at Phat Fabric. Here's the link.

New quilt patterns in the shop!

And more!
Quilting is my first love of sewing and it's about time I stock the shop with some quilt patterns. The last quilt pattern, Charming Log Cabin, is a favorite of mine, because it's perfect for large, beautiful, fabric prints. The kind of fabric that you don't want to cut up in little pieces. Also, it's really fast and easy to make. Just straight sewing. No tricky curves.

Here are 2 quilts I made with the Charming Log Cabin pattern.

The second quilt I made is a Pirate themed quilt for my oldest son (he's not too old for pirates... yet). After I completed the quilt top, I hand tied it to a down comforter. No quilting or backing, because the comforter is the backing. I then sewed on the binding. My son loves it because it's so cuddly (i'm sure he'll make me delete this post when he gets older).

Here's a link to all of the new quilt patterns in the shop.

Jamie

Painting.......

.... with fabric. I love Color! Since making my red dress, which by the way thank you very much for the kind comments, my new fabric obsession is brightly colored solid fabrics. Specifically Robert Kaufman's Kona Cotton Solids. The idea of playing with solid color and contrasting thread is such awesomeness for me. All of the above fabrics are now in stock at the shop (link).

Next week, I'm going to make my sister a similar dress as my red one, but with different colors. I'll take pics of how I smock/shear the top and write up a photo tutorial on how to do so.

One last thing. All Tanya Whelan fabric is on sale at Phat Fabric! The sale will end in 2 weeks (5/8/09) or until supplies last.

Cheers,

Jamie

My red sundress and how I made it.

Since Sunday was such a pretty day, I decided to make myself a sundress. Ironically, making the sundress, kept me indoors all day. In the end, it was time well spent.

Initially, I liked the dress as a strapless, but after wearing it for an hour or so, I came to the conclusion that I needed a bra and not a strapless bra (they always end up at my belly button). Having breastfed 3 babies...... well...... the girls ain't what they used to be. They're tired and very uncooperative. So, I added straps to the dress. Thus, allowing me to wear a bra with it.

(What's up with the hands on hips in all of my pics?! This would explain why my career as a model was so brief. I only had one pose!)

Now we are all happy =) But enough about the girls, lets talk about the dress.

I did not use a pattern, however the ruffle and smocking is inspired by a nightie I saw a couple months back at Anthro. The fabric is part of Robert Kaufman's Kona Cotton Solids and it's called Tomato (link).

~ How I made the dress ~

First off, I'm going to refer to the gathering in the bodice as smocking, but I have heard it referred to as shirring. The smocking was done with elastic thread on my home sewing machine. Simply wind your bobbin (by hand) with the elastic thread, insert your bobbin as you normally would, and away you go. Here are 2 links to online tutorials on how to sheer or smock - Portabellopixie (located on her right side bar under tutorials) and Craftstylish.

As a pattern reference for width and length, I used an older smocked sundress that I already owned. I stretched the fabric on the reference sundress to see how wide I should cut my material. I then measured the length of the reference dress. I made a few adjustments, because the fabric I was working with (non stretch cotton) was different from the reference sundress (stretch cotton). Once I figured out all of the measurements, I cut out the pieces and smocked the dress. Before I sewed the 2 pieces together (front and back), I made the ruffle and buttons.

For the ruffle, I cut a rectangle 5" wide and 13" long, which is longer than the actual length of the smocking. I needed to cut it longer than the desired finished length, because I was going to gather it. I then used a coffee canister as a template to cut the rounded end of the rectangle. Next, I serged the edges with a rolled hem stitch and gathered the ruffle to the bodice and stitched it in place. The buttons were made with scrap fabric. I used a button making kit to make them. You should be able to find a button making kit (inexpensive) at your local fabric or craft store. I then marked and sewed on the buttons. Next, I sewed the front and back pieces together. Lastly, I hemmed the bottom and sewed on a ruffle.
I like ruffles.

This dress makes my eyes feel good. One of my favorite color combinations is red and teal. Or is it turquoise? Whichever. I just know I like it =)

Cheers!

Jamie

The Neti Pot

This is my husbands belated birthday gift from his Mom............pause...............still pausing..... Oh there is so much comic material here, but I can't go there ;)

Seriously, it was a great gift for my husband who has recently developed allergies. It was also a great Easter gift for all of the family that was present to witness my husband try the nasal pot. The name of the product is the Neti pot as seen on Oprah' show. After he opened his gift, we all encouraged him to give it a try. He did. His first attempt was rather pathetic. To use the Neti pot correctly, you have to pour the water in one nostril and the water should come out of the other nostril. Apparently my husband has more than one passage way other than his nose. His face had so much water all over it, you would have thought it came out of his eyes, mouth, ears, and cheeks. We then decided to read the directions which look like this.....

I was rolling when I viewed the last pic. She looks so beautiful while pouring the water mixture in one nostril and out the other. I can only imagine how the photo shoot went.
Photographer: "Hold it. Hooooold it. Good. Now give me a sexy look. Hold it. Great! Let's do it again!
Did her agency tell her what the shoot was for? Likely not. How many pics did they make her take? How did her nose feel after all of the cleansing? Poor thing. But very talented.

My husband claims it has helped - it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Jamie

Easter and Fabric shopping.

Easter was a lot of fun for us this year. A sweet dove looked on as the kids searched for Easter eggs. Possibly, she was guarding her own egg out of fear from all of the looting she was observing.

Below is Gigi, my brother's girlfriend's dog. She may be the funniest dog I've ever met! Every time we would bounce the ball, she would start jumping really high off the ground (like triple her height). All four legs would would leave the ground at the same time and come back down at the same time.

she smiles

not very lady like =)

This is Stanley, my brother's dog. Don't let the picture fool you. He never chased the Frisbee. We would throw the Frisbee and Stanley would look at it..... then look at us like "yyyaa about the whole Frisbee thing.... I don't really do that, so if you could just throw that thing towards the little clown faced dog. I would really appreciate it." *yawn*

***

Tomorrow I will be heading off to the International textile show. Oh how I look forward to this every year! All sorts of fabrics will be there to greet me with open arms and I them. I will try to take some pics, but often times the distributors like to keep it on the down low until the fabric has printed. I have already previewed some of the new Echino and nani Iro fabrics. Pure bliss! I haven't yet carried nani Iro and I'm looking forward to filling my fabric shelves with Naomi Ito's art. Here's to happy fabric shopping!

Jamie

Happy Easter

I've been a computer geek this last week, which is why I haven't had any crafty things to share here in Prettydittyville. However, my knowledge of vector paths has increased to the point of full capacity! I'm sure my rear end has expanded due to the number of hours I have spent sitting at my dinner table, while working on the apron illustrations. Darn Earth's gravitational pull!

I am looking forward to sewing again. All of this time spent away from my sweet sewing machine has left my mind flooded with ideas. Specifically, sun dress and tank top ideas. In the mean time, I was very excited to get an email from Schmap Guides informing that they have chosen the above photo to be included in their seventh addition of The San Diego Neighborhood Guide. Here is the link. When your mouse hovers over the Mission Bay link, my pic pops up on the right. They had contacted me a couple of weeks ago asking if I would submit it in a group of photos to be considered for their neighborhood guide. I did, however I didn't hear back from them until today! Hooray! I love photography and I love San Diego scenery, so I'm thrilled to have my pic in their Schmap guide.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Easter.
He is risen!

Jamie

Old Town and a giveaway

This past Saturday, my husband and I went to Old Town San Diego for his birthday. We are both from San Diego (from 6th grade and on for me) and though we haven't lived there for the past 7 years, we still call it home.

I love historical buildings. You could almost say I crave them! Maybe it's because I'm a native Californian, which unlike New England, California doesn't have that many relatively old buildings in comparison. I remember when my husband and I were going to move to Boston, a property manager was showing us several rentals. We were puzzled and concerned as to why the floors of a second story apartment were sloping and warped. The manager said "It was an old Captains quarters built in the 1700's. It's a piece of history." With big half dollar sized eyes we were like "WOW! The 1700's." As far as we knew, we'd never been in a building older than the 1950's. From that point on we started taking pictures of everything as though we were sight seeing and not apartment hunting. Everything is "history" there. However, if I am going to pay that high of a rent, I don't want to have to hold a rope when I cross from one side of the living room to another =)

La Casa de Estudillo 1827

And....

the birthday man. He is lovely to look at =)

I never thought I'd write this, but doesn't that snail look cute hiding in the flower?

A succulent? Whatever it is... I like it.
And that concludes my Saturday in Old Town.

On a completely different note. My friend Gloria who has an Etsy store called Goya Designs, is having her first blog giveaway (link). She is giving away a set of beautifully handmade beads. If you like birds then you'll love these beads. Good luck!

Jamie

Paper Girls and aprons

New dolls with new clothes. Paper clothes to be exact. I've always been drawn to mixed media paintings, especially paintings with text hidden under the paint. I'm also a huge fan of paper-cuts! And on occasion have made a few paper-cuts myself. So as you can imagine, I was very excited to have figured out a way to incorporate both my love of text and paper-cutting into my new love of peg doll making. Sol is the first peg doll shown and if you look real close at her cheeks you'll see newspaper print. Annabella is the second peg doll and she has a paper cut for a skirt. She also has a little black bird for a friend. As soon as I can figure out a way to ship them without squishing their skirts, I'll list them in the shop.

Speaking of the shop, it's been awhile since I've made any aprons. That's because I'm working on the apron pattern. I figured if I don't allow myself to make aprons until the pattern is finished I'll probably finish the pattern. It's all written out and the pattern pieces have been drafted, it's the illustrations that have slowed me down. I now have new software which has already helped out quite a bit. However, I am still learning the software, so on occasion, I come across a few curve balls which ends up slowing me down. All that to say, I am working on my apron pattern and hopefully, within a reasonable amount of time, I will have both the apron pattern completed and some new pretty ditties up in the shop.

Have a happy weekend!
Jamie