Shirring

[LiseHParticipant]

I am making a blouse with shirring in the centre (5 rows between the chest and hem). It’s just a toile for practice so I made it about 2 sizes bigger than I think I am but that was the bust measurement. The problem is the shirring part. Once I shirred all the lines, it’s now too small to get over my chest….the elastic bobbin thread broke and I’ve had to tear our 3 lines already. Can anyone tell me how big this bottom panel has to be to shirr it so it goes over my chest yet still stays “shirred”? I’ve been on this for two days now and it’s really frustrating. I hand rolled my bobbin with no stretching, my stitch length is at 4. I have no creases so I must be flattening material properly, I knot each row. I’m just stumped

[professorpincushionParticipant]

I would think if you take the finish measurement and multiply it by 2 before shirring, it should be enough. Did you ever figure it out on your muslin?

[LiseHParticipant]

Thank you. I’ve done as high as 1.5X’s but 2Xs is the next one I’ll try. I put it on(the muslin made with the oversized pattern pce) and some of the elastic threads broke so I made another whole piece 1.5 X’s, shirred that up and again, some broke, but only 3 rows so I got a bit wiser and knotted the broken ends, reshirred where it popped and tied each end together and got it on that way. I made the new, good, top today and instead of tying the elastics right at the stitch line, I left about 4″ of thread and tied them at the ends of that. It was still a stretch to get over ‘everything’ but no elastics popped and it looks pretty ok. Next time I will just double the shirring piece to begin with and see where that goes. Thanks for the reply.

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