A few weeks back on a particularly warm weekend, I decided I needed more linen clothes ASAP that aren’t historical (18th century shifts are not particularly practical to wear outdoors as-is, though they do make great night gowns). I digress. I was fabric shopping for an upcoming historical fashion project, when I found the most beautiful medium weight lavender linen. For me, linen for modern wear needs to be not too sheer to avoid linings, but still soft enough for a lovely drape. This hit the mark.
Shirred cottagecore dresses have been gaining popularity over the last year, from Hill House to Daily Sleeper to By Hand London’s Shirred Dress Tutorial, so my idea is by no means completely original. Since none of the ones I found had the aspects I was looking for: in-seam pockets, no tiered skirt, opaque, and versatility (more on this later), I did what we sewists do: made my own!
Main Dress:
Cut two rectangles with the dimensions:
o Width: 0.5 x 1.5 x your bust circumference – shirring shrinks your fabric by about 1/3 and this pattern has seams on each side
o Length: however long you want your dress to be + about 1” total top and bottom hem allowance
On one piece, mark about where your knee hits and cut a slit from the bottom edge to that mark. Hand sew a narrow hem to finish the raw edges. When you to the top of the slit, stop the narrow hem and tightly whipstitch a “U” shape to reinforce the slit and prevent it from tearing. Since this dress doesn’t have tiers that gradually get wider, you’ll need this slit for ease of walking.
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On to the shirring!
I originally started the shirring with Dritz elastic thread and despite multiple tension adjustments, couldn’t get my fabric to shirr. I then tested on a scrap of cotton muslin, which did shirr, but not as much as I wanted. I realized the elastic was too weak, so I bought Gutermann elastic thread, which is thicker and stronger, and did shirr my linen fabric. René of @strawberryrp shared a tip to steam the shirring to make it shrink fully!
You’ll want to hand wind your bobbin with the elastic thread. I tried both adding tension while winding and without, and preferred without since otherwise, the elastic tended to really bounce back into the machine below.
I started sewing my shirring rows with a little extra room at the top for a small ruffled look, but that’s personal preference. When you get to the end of a row, use a lock stitch to secure the threads, but do not cut. You’ll want to keep the elastic continuous to reduce waste and to minimize loose ends. 1) Keeping the needle down, raise the presser foot. 2) Rotate the fabric 45 degrees, hold it still, life the needle, and 3) move the fabric up however far you want your shirring rows spaced, then lower the needle to secure the position, 4) rotate your fabric another 45 degrees, lower the presser foot, and continue to sew. It’s important to hold the fabric taught when adjust the needle position since the elastic bobbin thread will want to pull back.
Sew shirring rows until about your natural waist (or higher or lower depending on personal preference). Keep an eye out on your elastic bobbin thread, you definitely do not want to run out mid-row here. My Janome Skyline S9 low bobbin sensor is great at reminding me to check on it and you can adjust how sensitive you want it to be. (I turned it off once and guess what happened? I sewed thin air for a bit… so now I trust my Janome and keep it on).
For my pocket pieces, I used a self drafted pattern from an older project and added extra seam allowance for a larger pocket. Note for my future self: add even more/draft a new, larger pocket. This pocket turned out large enough to fit my iPhone XS, but barely). Then I followed In The Fold’s tutorial for sewing French seamed pockets linked here.
Tube tops have never been my friends, so while it would be cute to wear the dress as-is, I needed something on my shoulders to keep the dress up.
To make matching shirred ruffled straps: measure how long you need the straps to be – mine were around 14”. Multiply that by 1.5 for the length (I forgot, hence the oddly short piece in the photo below) and pick a width, and then add hem allowance on all sides. Use the roll hem foot to hem the long sides. Starting about ½” from the side, start sewing shirring rows using the method above. Since these are straps, I made the rows a little closer together. I sewed shirring until just past half the width of the strap. You’ll now see how this creates a natural ruffled edge! Finish the short edges by folding ¼” twice and sewing down to encase the elastic ends. Position and attach to the top edge of your dress!
Now go frolic or picnic while living your best cottage core life!
Disclosures: This post and project are sponsored as a part of the Janome Maker program. I sewed this on the Janome Skyline S9.
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