Todays Tuesday Tute was going to be all about making simple, well-fitting tops and dresses for large-breasted or otherwise curvy women using a simple method with shirring elastic. Unfortunately, I managed to make a rather stupid mistake as you will see!
Now, I'm a large woman myself, and I have a lot of shapely bits. I have large breasts, a large stomach that hangs mostly in the front with a relatively narrow waist, and wide hips. Most high street clothes are built to suit women with the fashionable rectangular figure; a longish torso, not a large amount of variation in hip and waist measurements and a small-average bust. Of course, those of us with large breasts or hips know that this means we either buy clothes 2-3 sizes larger to compensate, leaving us wearing items that hang off of us like shapeless binbags, or we put up with clothing that pulls and gapes in places.
Aside from the ever wonderful solution of wrap tops and dresses, there is also the shirred look. You've almost certainly seen loads of shirred clothes this Summer, with the fashion for comfortable maxi dresses returning. That heavily elasticated bust portion covered in horizontal lines of thin elastic, that then drapes and hangs from below the bust. It looks lovely, suits a variety of shapes, and is easy to make.
It can also be expensive to make if you're buying the fabric new. The fabric becomes narrower the more lines of shirring are added, so if you are large busted and need a deep shirred section, or even if you just want a deep shirred section for aesthetic reasons, you may find you need to use fabric up to twice the width of your bust. For someone like me, with 58" circumference of boobage, this isn't really affordable.
This is where charity shops are a real lifesaver. An unfitted bedsheet, quilt cover or other cotton bedding for a single bed can provide enough fabric for several tops, and a double enough for more than one generously shirred dress, for under £5. The same amount of fabric bought new would likely cost around £10-£20, depending. I buy cotton bedding with attractive patterns, or plain, and then dye it to brighten it up or cover up faded sections and colours I don't particularly like.
Once you have your fabric, here is how you
should measure your pieces.
Sit down and, while sitting, measure your bust at the widest point. Do this sitting to ensure that any changes in the dimensions of your bust caused by your underwire lifting it up are accounted for. If you have a small bust, measure instead the widest part of your body here, whether that be bust, hips or waist.
Now.
Multiply that measurement by 2. I cannot emphasise this enough. Measure out the width of the fabric to
double your bust measurement. Not one and a half. Not a few inches extra. Double.
Double.
We'll call this measurement A.
Next, take your measuring tape and position it horizontally across the front of your bust to decide where you want the neckline of the top to sit. The top will have a square neckline so you may want to position it a little higher than normal to avoid leaving your bra visible, although if you intend to add nice thick straps or sleeves afterwards this won't be an issue. From the neckline you've chosen, measure midway across your larger breast, down taking in the curve of the bust to where you want the bottom hem of the top to sit. I usually go to the bottom of the hip myself. This is measurement B
Separately, measure the curve of your bust a second time, from the neckline midway over your larger breast to where you want the shirring to stop. This is measurement C.
It is important to think carefully about the shape you want before measuring. See here, the diagram shows how the length of the shirred section (in green) will effect the final sillhouette of the fabric (red and green together) against different body shapes. It is best to decide what shape you want beforehand to give you an estimate of where the shirring will stop. Don't worry though; this isn't set in stone.
Next, cut a straight sided rectangle of fabric of length B and width A, plus an inch or 2 seam allowance. Mark the seam allowance along the length on each edge, and the line indicating measurement C, in tailor's chalk to help you keep your lines straight.
Put the fabric aside for a moment. Now you'll need to fill a bobbin with shirring elastic.
Follow the images as shown. Normally, when filling a bobbin with cotton you'd just do it on the machine. However, many machines will not do this neatly with shirring elastic, so you will likely need to do this manually.
Take the elastic and wind it onto the bobbin by hand, stretching it out as you wind it.
Keep it stretched as you wind so that it is tight on the bobbin and so that it feels as though it wants to unwind itself.
The shirring elastic bobbin goes in the compartment for the bottom thread on your machine, situated under the needle.
Now we're ready to begin! Take your fabric and position it right side facing upwards in the machine, so that you'll be stitching horizontally across the width of the fabric. Make sure your machine is set to a simple straight stitch, and put it on a wide stitch setting, much wider than you would for a seam.
Do the first 3-4 stitches manually rather than using the foot. Then sew as normal, using your hand to gently flatten the fabric as it passes through.
When you reach the end of a row, manually make 2-3 stitches vertically down the side of the fabric. Turn the fabric again so you are set to sew back along parallel to the first line. Again, do the first 3-4 stitches manually and then sew as normal to the end.
Repeat the process for as many rows as you need. Even if you haven't reached the chalk line marking measurement C, take the fabric out of the machine periodically and hold it against yourself to see how far down the shirring has come. You may decide you want a longer or shorter shirred section.
Keep in mind that the deeper the shirred section, the more narrow the final piece will be. It will never stretch out back to the original width of the fabric, and you lose more width the deeper it becomes. Hence why we start with double the width needed.
When you are done, simply remove the fabric from the machine.
Looks good, doesn't it? Now you want to sew the piece up into a top. Simply pin the fabric, right sides together, along the vertical line. Replace the shirring bobbin with a bobbin if plain cotton thread and reduce the stitch size to one more suitable for a seam. Sew this one straight line. Technically, you could be done here, but you may want to add straps.
The next step is to try the top on and see how it fits, in case you want to add more shirring before the next step. If you measured the fabric right in the first place you'll have a lovely, neat straight neckline across the bust, and the fabric should neatly conform you your bust shape without pulling or pinching.
If it looks like this, you've done it wrong. You didn't measure out enough fabric for yourself. You can't see in the pictures, but the bulging continues down my bust and the shirring stops too high where it has been stretched too much. It is also far too narrow at the waist; it fits nicely, but doesn't have the lovely drapey effect I wanted.
Fortunately for me, I have a couple of nieces aged 6 and 7 and I think this might just fit one of them perfectly as a dress!
Tune in tommorrow when I add part 2; turning this item into a child's dress including adding straps, finishing the edges and decorating with lace and pockets.
