What is shirring?
Shirring is a technique used in sewing to get elastic gathers like shown in the photos below. Shirring can be beneficial when creating garments that should be tight-fitting, but without using stretch or jersey fabrics. This way you can create a stretchy garment with non-stretchy fabric.
Shirring can be challenging, but with practice it can be a very useful skill in sewing and opens up copious opportunities for new types of garments.
Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t turn out perfect on the first few tries - shirring requires practice and practice makes perfect.
Shirring: the basics
First, you will need shirring thread. This is thin elastic thread, it usually comes in various colors. Shirring thread is typically 0.5 mm and sometimes called “elastic sewing thread”.
Next, you will need to wind the bobin with the shirring thread. When shirring you only wind the bobin with the shirring thread, not the top stitch needle. You need to wind the bobin by hand, this cannot be done with a machine. Make sure you do not pull at the elastic when winding the bobin. You should put the thread on as relaxed as possible.
Troubleshooting the bobin
You should have winded the bobin at this point by following the instructions on the prior page. Now you will learn some types of tricks for dealing with some issues that may arise when using the shirring thread.
In the below photo you can see the elastic and the elastic covering are separated. You may experience these two separating inside of the machine because the red outlined part gets dragged up into the machine.
You can fix this by manually separating them and cutting the red outlined part off.
You may experience an issue when threading the needle and needing to get the bobin thread upwards as shown in the below photo. It can be advantageous to do this step without the bobin cover. Since shirring thread is thicker then normal sewing thread, it may get stuck under the cover as you try to pull it out.
Once the bobin thread has successfully come up, the bobin covering should be put back in its place.
The sewing
Now you should be ready to test the fabric and the thread. The bobin is in its place with shirring thread and you can grab a piece of scrap fabric.
You should test the shirring thread on pieces of scrap fabric to see how the fabric reacts to the elastic. Different types of fabric reacts different depending on if it is silky/satiny, heavyweight/lightweight, or the fabric type. Shirring works best on lightweight fabric. Good results are usually rare with heavyweight fabric.
If you do not get the desired look, you should play around with the tension of the machine and the stitch length for what gives you the best result for the fabric you are working with. Different machines react differently, so there is not a one-size-fits-all way of shirring.
Remember to always back stitch when starting and finishing. If you don’t, you will risk the elastic becoming undone.
When shirring multiple parallel lines, each straight stitch is typically place about 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) apart.
Lastly, since the shirring thread is in the bobin of the machine. The elastic thread will appear on the side of the fabric facing downwards. Thus, you will need to have the right side of the fabric facing yourself and the wrong side of the fabric facing downwards.
Shirring can be intimidating and challenging, but it is a super rewarding skill to master and opens the doors for endless new garments. So practice and feel free to message us with any questions you may have!