Smocking?

Reply #1: 1st August 2011 at 02:02

These are instructions for shirring a cotton/muslin strapless sundress made from scratch, but they might give u an idea of how to do it, then u can tweak as u go....
to get the original size of fabric it was measure round bust then double it, if ur using a much larger mens T, i guess u would just sew it a bit looser ?

Fold over the selvedge at the top of the dress 1cm and sew.
To prepare for the shirring firstly draw a line on the right side of the fabric with tailor's chalk 1.5cm down from this top edge. Then mark at least 6 morelines 1.5cm apart. (the photo of the dress looks like there are 10)
Fill a bobbin by loosely wrapping shirring elastic around it. Do this by hand and don't use a bobbin winder on the sewing machine. Use normal thread on the top of the machine.
It's a really good idea to make a shirring sample first to test the tension of the machine (if ur t-shirt isnt hugely big on u, i guess u would want your tension quite loose, u can always tighten it up later) and to familiarise yourself with the technique. When you are ready, sew along the chalked line, leaving long threads at either end, don't backstitch.
Repeat the process until the shirred section sits slightly below your bust when you hold it up against yourself. It doesn't matter too much if your lines are not exactly straight.
Test the fit of the dress and if the shirred section seems too loose, pull the elastic threads at each end to tighten it up. Now machine over your threads at both ends to secure.
(At this point they then talk through seaming the dress and hemming it, so i won't bother with that bit!)

Instructions courtesy of "making" magazine Issue 11 September 2011

I hope this is of some use to you! You could always try it out on another cheap Tshirt first, just to see if it works