Free Shirred Dress Pattern - DIY Adult's Shirred Dress
Free Sewing Tutorials By Sewing Bee Fabrics
The weather is starting to get warmer which means it is definitely time for sewing a pretty shirred cotton summer dress or two! After plenty of compliments on this dress (Thank you!!) I decided to make another and show you how to make your own too. This tutorial will show you how to draft your own free dress pattern. Although I have made this as an adult women's sized dress, it can equally be made for a toddler or a child's dress by following the same instructions. It is also worth noting that due to the elastic bust then flared dress style, it would also make a fantastic maternity dress as it would easily accommodate pregnancy changes yet still be flattering to wear after.
Although I will admit that this isn't the quickest dress pattern to sew up because of the time needed to do your shirring, I think it's worth it both for the cuteness of the dress as well as the complete lack of any buttons, zips, darts, bust adjustments etc! It just fits!
You can either follow this tutorial as a video or if you prefer to read instructions instead, then scroll on down for the full write up on how to make your own shirred dress.
What You Will Need:
Approx 2 1/2 - 3 1/2m cotton fabric - the exact amount will depend on your size, the fabric width and pattern, plus how much you want to pattern match your pieces so I recommend you draft your pattern first to see how much you will need more easily.
Thread and Shirring Elastic
How To Make Your Dress:
This dress is made up of two pattern shapes - the dress pattern - which will need to be cut out five times and the strap pattern which will be cut twice. To make the dress pattern, first start with drawing a rectangle for the bodice. The width of your pattern needs to be twice the width of the widest point of your bust divided by 5. The height of the bodice being from around armpit level or just above to the waist with an allowance for a small hem at the top added on. You then need to flare out for the skirt for the desired length so that the bottom of the skirt is 1.5x the width of the bodice. You can add a side seam allowance if you want a looser fit, but it isn't really required.
The strap pattern piece is just a long rectange cut out twice. The width of the strap pattern piece needs to be the desired strap width with a narrow hem allowance either side. The length needs to be twice the distance between armpit level at the back, then over the shoulder to reach about armpit level at the front. Although we will add a top and bottom hem to this piece, you want a snugger fit, so allowances for these aren't added.
First, you need to join the dress pieces together, so line up the bodice pieces and join them down the sides with pattern sides facing together as you stitch. You want to join them all into a big circle like a dress that would be way too big to ever fit you!
Then stop the edges of your seams from fraying by either using an overcast foot and sewing a zigzag stitch over the edge of the seam, or by sewing a zigzag stitch near the edge.
Next, sew a narrow hem all around the top edge of the dress by folding the top edge then folding again so that the raw edge is hidden in the centre then sew with a straight stitch around the edge to hold it in place.
Mark the point on each of your side seams where the bodice starts to diagonally spread out to become the skirt.... Quilting clips or hair clips result in far far less accidental stabbings than pins!!!
To gather the bodice and make it elasticated, I have added shirring. To do this you will need a longer than usual stitch length - on my machine this is 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 and you may need to increase your upper thread tension.
You will need an elastic thread in your bobbin. Most sewing machines need this winding gently onto the bobbin by hand, but occasionally some machines will prefer that elastic thread is wound under some tension.
When you first start sewing it is difficult to see how well or not it is gathering so I recommend sewing a test few lines on a scrap piece first. If your fabric isn't bunching up as you expect, look on the reverse of the fabric. If the thread looks like it is looping away from the elastic and not holding the elastic close to the fabric, you will need to increase the upper thread tension. If the elastic looks like it is zigzagging along the fabric instead of in a straight line, then you need to increase the bobbin tension. This can be done by small turns of the screw on the bobbin case/inside the top loading bobbin area - make a note of how far you have turned it to easily swap back to normal sewing after.
If you have a top loading bobbin, you will also need to be more careful to feed the elastic thread through the tensioning area, and you may need to leave the bobbin cover off as you bring the thread up to ensure it has the space to move into the correct position before putting the cover back on.
I use a stitch guide foot to help with keeping my lines of shirring on the dress bodice. This allows me to keep a consistent gap between my lines without using a fabric marking pen or chalk.
Start your stitching at one of the seams shirring along the line of stitching you have just sewn for the top hem. Sew around the entire circumference of the upper dress. When you get to the end of the row, sew, reverse, then sew a few stitches to anchor the thread in place then move the presser foot along for the next row, lining one of the notches up with the elastic thread. I mark the notch I'm using by adding a little lipstick so that I can more easily see which notch to keep lined up with. You want your gaps between your shirring lines to be just over 1cm/approx half an inch apart.Â
Keep repeating until you reach the end of the bodice... You might want to find a good podcast or audiobook to listen to as you go... this step can take a while...
When you reach your clips, you are done shirring your dress bodice.
You might want to try on your dress at this point to check you are happy with the length then you can sew a narrow hem at the bottom in the same way as you did at the top. If you try making the hem too wide you will find that it wants to twist and not lay flat - this is because the skirt is diagonal at the sides, so the outer edge is a little longer than the part of the skirt that you are folding up to which ends up in a mismatch. The wider you make your hem, the more obvious the problem becomes.
Next sew a hem around all the edges of the 2 strap pattern pieces.
Add shirring to the long length of the straps in the same way as you did for the bodice, starting over the top of the outer hem on one side and ending on the outer hem on the opposite side. A stitch guide foot isn't as useful here as you will be getting to the end then turning at the end of each row, so the shirring will alternate between the left and right side of your presser foot. Don't be tempted to cut your elastic at the end of each row instead as you will have a high risk of at least one set of stitches with the elastic thread pinging up and ruining the look of your strap.
Try the dress on with one of the 5 panels centred at the front and pin the strap pieces where you would like them to sit. I prefer to hand sew them on as I feel it gives a more hidden appearance at the front as well as allowing more movement of the shirring and stops the back edge from folding up. I sew the strap to the dress just under the top hem of the dress and just above the hem of the short edge of the strap, then stitch the bottom edge down.
If you want to tighten up your shirring even further, you can hold a steam iron just above the elastic on the back side of the stitching so that the steam acts to shrink it gathering it further. Your DIY shirred dress is now ready to wear!
Happy Sewing!
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is there a way to make it have more of a sleeve?
I liked how it looked when you only had half the sleeve shirring done! I wonder if it would work making the fabric a little wider for a sleeve.
this dress looks beautiful! I am wearing a similar one that I bought and was looking for how to make more with different colours! the one I have only has shirring on the front half, and is flat at the back, and also has tshirt sleeves
Thank you! You could maybe try adding a sleeve a bit like I made for this scuba fabric dress?
Great tutorial. What do you do when you get to end of the elastic? One bobbin will not do the whole piece. Should I stop and start a new bobbin at the beginning of the row?
Thank you! You could do that if you wanted. I just carried on until the bobbin ran out, then overlapped the stitching a little with a bit of forward-backward stitching like you would any time you start sewing with a new bobbin thread, making sure to sew over the end of the old elastic bobbin end to secure the elastic in place. The way that the fabric gathers, you wouldn’t notice unless you were really scrutinising it.
Nice! How many bobbins of elastic did you use/make?
Thank you. I can’t remember exactly how many now as it was some time ago I made it, but I’m pretty sure I bought a pack of 3 elastic threads which I think were likely about 20 metres each and I was surprised I had plenty leftover so maybe 25-35 meters at most used is my best estimate. I might have said the exact amount in the video. Hope that helps!
How would you adjust this to make shirt instead of a dress?
I guess you could just make the bodice longer and hem the bottom of it!
You are absolutely adorable! I love your tutorials because you do not waist time on explaining ridiculously basic sewing techniques. Your pace is great and your teaching style is clear and concise.
Best regards,
Aj in the states
Thank you so much. That’s so kind of you to say!
Finally, something for us “big girls”!
You look marvelous in that dress!
Thank you so much
Good idea! Will be trying it out for my grandchild.I am not sure of how my sewing machine will act with the thread.
I hope it came out well!
What a great sewing project and what a great summer dress! Thanks for clear instructions and keep up your good work and sharing!
Thank you so much. So pleased you enjoyed it!
Excellent directions.
Is it possible to use garter thread in an industrial sewing machine? Ty
Yes most industrial machines will let you sew with elastic thread, in the same way, to let you use shirring as I used in the dress.
Awesome tutorial, Linda! Thank you! Very nice dress, I am going to make one like this for sure. I didn’t know you publish tutorials, I thought you only have a fabric shop.
Thank you so much. I would love to see how it comes out. Of all the times I’ve stopped by your instagram, I’ve only just visited your fab website! So much sewing help and info there! What a fab resource! Linda x
Adorable! And what a great and detailed tutorial. Definitely a great project for spring and summer! 🙂 Lisa
Thank you so much! I’m so pleased you enjoyed it.