Shirred dress with sleeves
Fellow fabric lovers will understand this: for the past few years I’ve been writing down a list of my five most precious fabrics at the beginning of the year, and setting a goal to sew something with all of them by the end of the year. I haven’t always checked off every one, but I can usually manage to work my way through most of them in a year or two.
The problem isn’t that I don’t know what to make with these lovely fabrics, it’s that I have too many ideas. Plus, with sewing projects there is always a risk: you might make something and it won’t fit, or it won’t look the way you want it to, or that you’ll have completely ruined or wasted that fabric. This can result in decision paralysis when it comes to cutting into something precious, so it’s usually easier just to cut into something lower stakes. Sound familiar?
This inky rayon print is one I fell hard for back in 2016; it was in the designer deadstock section at Dry Goods in Seattle (RIP waaaah) when I was there teaching a class. I finally put it on “the List” and cut into it back in 2023 (ack - it’s taken me this long to take photos!!) Originally I thought it would be a caftan of some sort, something long and flowy, but instead I decided to make it into a shirred dress, like this pink one (scroll down). I just love the way that the digitally printed navy design is almost rorschach-esque, especially when the shirring at the top gathers up the design. It’s super weird and kinda moody. I love it.
The sleeves are the fun part for me - it’s got that Big Sleeve Drama that you know I love. And I added a cute little tie at the back that helps keep the sleeves from falling off my shoulders with the square neckline. And the shirring (tutorial here) makes it really comfortable to wear.
Do you like this dress? Want to make one with me? Or just learn how to shirr?? I’m going to be teaching two classes in April on PatternReview:
First: Shirring with Elastic Thread on April 8th - a live zoom class starting at 3 PM (it’s also recorded so you can watch it later if you can’t make it live)
Second (not posted yet): I will be also be teaching how to make this shirred dress on April 29th - still working on getting that class posted yet - so that one is not yet available to sign up, but I’ll definitely put up the link when
If you don’t already feel comfortable shirring with your machine the first class will definitely be a prerequisite for the second. I use shirring ALL the time when I’m sewing, so even if you don’t want to make this dress, you might be surprised at how useful this skill is. Hope you can join me for either or both!!
