Shirring Tutorial

Here you will find a quick tutorial on how to use elastic thread in the bobbin of your sewing machine to ruffle fabric and give it an awesome soft stretch! I may have just been lucky but it worked the first time I tried it! 

1. Get quality elastic thread! The gutermann brand worked really well for me. 

2. Hand wind your bobbin. You'll want to make sure not to stretch the thread as you wind but also make sure it's not super loose.

3. Insert your bobbin as you would with a regular thread in there! 

4. Use a longer stitch. My machine stitch length is on a scale from 1-5, 2.5 being a normal stitch. I tried 4 at first and it was good, but then I tried 3.5 and I felt like that was perfect. 

5. Sew along your fabric as you normally would! Definitely try it on a piece of scrap fabric first to make sure it's ruffling the way you want it to before trying it out on the garment your making. 

6. This tutorial was made specifically for the ruffle shorties so i'm just showing two rows here but you can do as many rows as you'd like! Once you finish one row, pull the strings out but don't cut them yet. Turn your project around and sew 1/4" - 3/8" from the stitch you just made. 

7. With regular thread in the bobbin, sew some back and forth stitches over the ends to make sure that the elastic thread doesn't come out! Then you can trim the strings. 

That's it! Shirring is way more simple than I originally thought. I hope you find success in this method because it's way less bulky and seems way more comfortable than the thick elastic method (which is still a great option if this doesn't work). Remember to try on scrap fabric first and if it's not working how you want it to, try making adjustments one at a time. 

Can't wait to see your creations!