All About Shirring | Sewing Tutorial

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Shirring is a sewing technique that adds nice detailing to garments. It’s easier than you think. Here’s all about shirring.

What is Shirring?

Shirring is rows of gathers on a garment. You can find them on the bodices of dresses (quite often the back), at the waist on dresses or tops or even on the wrist as cuffs. It adds a really nice, distinct detail. You can also do all this using your home sewing machine!

Shirring is simply rows of stitches, using elastic thread. The elastic thread contracts and so the area with the shirring becomes elastic and stretchy. It’s a gentle stretch, however. That is why so often you’ll see it on clothing to help with the fit and shape.

You can substitute shirring where elastic would be used. Good examples include the waist and the end of the sleeves. Shirring adds a nice gentle shaping to the garment, whereas regular elastic can be more defined. So it all depends on the look you want.

Also, use shirring in the place of gathering. This would be a really nice substitution in shoulder seams or yoke seams.

Shirring is a great technique to alter an existing garment that doesn’t fit properly. If something is too big or shapeless, adding some shirring at the waist can make a big difference.

Do not confuse shirring with smocking. Smocking is gathering using embroidery stitches. Smocking does not use elastic thread. It looks similar but is a whole different technique.

Not all fabrics can be shirred. Basically, the lighter the better. You can shirr both woven and knit fabrics. The key is the weight. Shirring works great on light fabrics like gauze, rayon challis and voile. Heavier fabrics will not achieve the same result. I’m talking quilting cottons (depending on the weight, this may or may not be okay), flannel, wool, denim. You will probably want to avoid those. When in doubt, and always a good practice – test it on a scrap piece of fabric first, to not only see if it will work but to also see if you like the look of it.

What You Need for Shirring

Any home sewer can do shirring. It doesn’t take any special equipment.

• sewing machine with a straight stitch and the ability to alter the stitch length; I love my Janome Skyline S3. It’s a real workhorse.
• bobbins for your sewing machine
• elastic thread; you can find this at your local fabric store or on-line
• regular thread
• chalk or another marking tool; I personally use a chalk wheel as I find it quicker and easier to manoeuver
• quilting ruler; I love using these as they are see-through and so it makes measuring and marking a whole lot easier
• iron capable of steam; I have a CHI iron that works really well.

Prepare for Shirring

Like most things, it’s all about the prep. Here’s what you need to get ready for shirring:

• Hand wind your bobbins with the elastic thread. Gently wind your bobbins by hand. Be careful not to stretch or pull the elastic thread. You’ll notice I mentioned bobbins – plural. Since the elastic thread is so much thicker than regular thread, a bobbin doesn’t hold a whole lot. For a dress I made, one filled bobbin only did 2 rows of stitching at the waist. If you can, have multiple bobbins ready to go. Otherwise, after every couple of rows, rewind.
• Mark your garment. Using chalk and a ruler, mark your rows of shirring, 1/2 inch apart. You will want to have at least 4 or 5 rows in order to get the look. Start with that – you could always add more afterwards. One or 2 rows will not look like much and you’ll wonder why you went to all this trouble. Trust me, the more rows you do will result in a nicer looking shirring effect. Keep in mind that the more rows you have, the wider the shirring is.
• Test it out on your machine. Try it out on a scrap piece first so you can work out all the kinks. So you have the elastic thread on the bottom in the bobbin and regular thread up top. You will need a wider stitch than normal. It’s usually in the range of 3.0-4.0. I’d recommend starting in the middle at 3.5 and see how it goes. You also want good tension. You want the elastic thread to be held in nicely and not too loose or too tight. Good tension will result in a nice shirring effect.

Once you have all that organized, you are good to go!

Sewing Tips for Shirring

You are basically just sewing straight lines, but here are some tips.

• Sew slow and steady. While I like to put the pedal to the metal, you definitely do not want to get a tangled mess. Knotted up elastic thread is not easy to pick out. You basically have to cut little bits out until you can remove it. Don’t ask me how I know….
  TIP: listen to your machine. I can hear when things are running smoothly. If something sounds off (for my machine, it’s a chunking sound), stop and assess.
• To start each line, I sew a couple of stitches and then backstitch a couple of stitches to anchor it. I do this gently by hand – cranking the wheel.
• When you finish a row, gently pull out your garment and cut the thread and elastic thread with a good 1-2 inch tail. I hand tie these into knots at the end of my rows.
• Check your bobbins after each row. Ideally, you want to do a complete row without running out of elastic thread. You can stop partway through, but it’s a pain. I know it may seem wasteful.

The Finishing Touch

Once you’ve sewn all your rows of shirring, it may still not look quite right. This is where your iron comes in handy.

Give your shirring good blasts of steam on both sides of the fabric once you are done. The steam helps it contract and the shirring will be more obvious.

Here is a dress that I added shirring to the waist. It is the Rhapsody Pattern by Love Notions., made from rayon challis from my local fabric store. It shirred very easily and nicely. For the dress length, the pattern calls for elastic at the waist. I substituted shirring. I love how it gives a gentle shape to the dress. It’s also comfy to wear.

I made a few modifications to this pattern. The bodice was shortened by 4 inches in order to have an empire waist. I also shortened the skirt so that it was above the knee.

Want to remember all about shirring? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.