I recently made this pretty little shirred baby dress for my daughter, using one of her diaper shirts to get the pattern started. It was actually a last minute, late night Easter dress, and also a learning process, but it turned out so cute! I didn’t have a lot of time so I didn’t take a lot of pictures, but I think you can get the idea if you want to give it a try. I want to make another one with some adjustments from what I learned and better pictures, but until I get around to it, I figured I would share the process with you and update when I can!
Although I’m calling it a baby dress, the process would work just as well for an older girl, and even for a woman.
Supplies and materials
- Sewing machine
- Woven fabric (like linen, quilting cotton, poplin, old sheets, etc. I used this linen fabric from Pure Linen Envy)
- Matching thread
- Elastic thread, 0.6 mm (I bought this big roll from Amazon for all the future shirring projects!)
- Iron and ironing board
- Measuring tape
- Scissors
- Pins
- Basic knit (stretchy) shirt that fits your daughter
- Paper and 2 colors of pens
Making the paper pattern
Step 1 – Tracing the shirt and sleeve
Here is the shirt I used. Nothing special, just any basic t-shirt that fits your daughter!
First line up the middle of the shirt with the edge of the paper and trace the main part of the shirt onto it, leaving no seam allowance at this point. Poke with a pin along the armhole, then connect the little pricks once you remove the shirt. This will be the bodice.
Do the same for the sleeve, leaving space all around for adjustments.
Add a 1/2 inch seam allowance all around with a different colored pen (or crayon, haha).
Step 2 – Dividing the bodice of the pattern into two parts
Draw a line straight across, about halfway up the armhole. Then cut the pattern out into these two parts. The bottom half will help make the bodice, and the top half will be the straps.
Here is how I cut the straps, but I realized after that I should have cut them differently, so that the inside edge was basically parallel with the armhole edge, and so that there was a 90 degree angle in both upper corners. You can also see that I added the seam allowance to the fabric without adding it to the paper pattern piece.
Step 3 – Making adjustments to the sleeves
I added about 1 1/2 inches from the fold for a fuller sleeve, and went straight down in the armpit for even more fulness. I also added about 1 1/2 inches to the length, for hem allowance and a little extra length. Honestly I was just guessing!
Step 4 – Calculating the bodice/skirt dimensions
So, to calculate the width of your bodice pieces, you can do it two ways:
- If the shirt you’re using is quite fitted, then just measure the width and double it.
- If the shirt you’re using is quite loose like mine was, then measure the circumference of your daughter’s chest and double it, then divide between two pieces for the front and back. I actually didn’t do this and it turned out a little looser than I would have liked.
For the length of the bodice/skirt, you need to figure out how long you want the dress to be, then subtract the strap length and the ruffle length. Then add 1/2 inch hem allowance for the top and 1 inch seam allowance for the bottom.
I made my dress too short overall, but the length of the bodice/skirt pieces was 11 inches and the width was 22 inches (x2). I should have made the length 13 or 14 inches.
Step 5 – Calculating the exposed ruffle dimensions
Decide how long your want the length to be and add 1 inch seam allowance for the top and 1/2 inch hem allowance for the bottom.
For the width, make it 1.5 times as wide as the skirt pieces.
Step 6 – Cutting out and notching your pattern pieces
Cut out the rectangular pieces you calculated, as well as the strap and sleeve pieces. We will shape the main dress pieces according to the pattern after they’re shirred. Make notches at the center points to help with matching up different pieces later, as well as on the sleeve caps where the curve changes from concave to convex.
You will need:
- 2 main dress pieces
- 2 exposed ruffle pieces
- 8 straps
- 2 sleeves
Step 7 – Hemming the top of the main dress pieces
Fold and iron the top edges 1/4 inch to the wrong side twice and edgestitch.
Step 8 – Marking how far down you want the shirring to go
Iron a fold to mark how far down you want to do your shirring. I went 3 inches down from the hemmed edge.
Step 9 – Wind your bobbin with elastic thread
Wind your elastic thread around a bobbin by hand. Don’t stretch the thread as you go, and don’t overfill the bobbin.
Step 10 – Set up your machine for shirring and practice on some scrap fabric
I have a detailed blog post on how to shirr fabric here, including how to shirr with a Brother sewing machine. So if you’ve never done shirring, I recommend checking it out. But here are some quick steps:
- Place your bobbin with elastic thread into your machine
- For a Brother sewing machine, increase the bobbin tension first and make sure the elastic thread goes into the tension slit
- Start out with the highest needle tension and a slightly long straight stitch (3.5 on my machine, 2.5 is normal and 5 is longest)
- Experiment on your scrap fabric, lower needle tension for more gathering
- Once you’re satisfied with how your shirring is looking, it’s time to move on to your actual dress!
Step 11 – Sewing the shirring stitches on the shirred baby dress
Start shirring 3/8 inch from the edge of your main dress piece, with the right side facing up. Backstitch at the beginning. You can either backstitch at the end and sew again from the same side you started, or just pivot at the end, take a few stitches down, then go back the way you came, 3/8 inch from your previous line. Go as far down as you marked to, backstitch, and repeat on the other piece.
Step 12 – Cutting the shirred sections to the armhole shape
Now you can lay your bodice pattern on top of the folded shirred piece and cut out the armhole shape. It’s ok if your shirred section is narrower than the pattern, just line up the armhole with the edge and don’t worry about the folded part.
You will want to be careful about not stretching your shirring until the sleeves are sewed on. If you’re concerned, you could stitch around the edge to keep the elastic in place.
This is what the piece will look like unfolded. Repeat on the other bodice/skirt piece.
Step 13 – Sewing the straps
Sew the straps in pairs, right sides together, at the shoulder seams. Trim the seam allowances, then sew along the neck side, right sides together. This is the same as putting any lined bodice together, except there’s no middle part, so it seems different.
Then turn to the right side, iron, and finish the bottom edges. Mine look a little funny because of how I shaped them.
Step 14 – Attaching the straps to the shirred baby dress
Pin the straps to the inside of the shirred baby dress, overlapping by 1/2 inch. Sew 1/4 inch from the top edge.
Step 15 – Gathering the sleeves
Sew 2 rows of gathering stitches (longest straight stitch, needle tension low, no backstitching), between the notches at the top edge of the sleeves 3/8 and 5/8 inch from the edge, with the right side facing up.
Check out my full gathering tutorial here if you’d like a little more help with this step!
Step 16 – Attaching the sleeves to the shirred baby dress
Pin the sleeves to the bodice/straps, right sides together. Pull the bobbin tails to gather so that the sleeve fits.
Sew in place with a 1/2 inch seam allowance and a very short stitch length to make sure you catch the elastic threads. If you don’t have a serger to finish the seams, then sew another line of stitching right next to the first line to make sure to really catch the elastic threads, then zigzag to finish.
Step 17 – Sewing the side seams of the shirred baby dress
Sew from the sleeve to the bottom of the shirred baby dress, making sure to match up the underarm seams.
Step 18 – Gathering the exposed ruffle
For a detailed tutorial on how to sew an exposed ruffle, you can check out my blog post here.
Sew the side seams of the exposed ruffle pieces together, right sides together. Then sew two rows of gathering stitches (longest straight stitch, needle tension low, no backstitching) 3/8 inch and 1 5/8 inch from the top edge, with the right side facing up.
Iron the top edge 1 inch to the wrong side. This will help with the next step, so unfold it for now.
Step 19 – Attaching the exposed ruffle to the shirred baby dress
Pin the exposed ruffle to the shirred baby dress, matching side seams and notches. Pull on the bobbin tails to gather and sew in place with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Finish the seam.
Then turn the shirred baby dress to the right side and fold the exposed ruffle up along the line that you ironed. Pin in place, then sew 1/2 inch from the top edge, just inside of the second row of gathering stitches. Remove the gathering stitches.
Step 20 – Hemming the exposed ruffle and sleeves
Hem your sleeves and exposed ruffle by folding and ironing 1/4 inch to the wrong side twice and edgestitching.
All done your shirred baby dress!
This picture was taken after it was washed. I just love the soft wrinkles and texture of linen!
You can see here why I said I made it too short… it’s also tough because the distance between the bottom of a baby’s diaper and their knees is like 1 inch, so there’s not much room for error. But at least it’s easy to crawl in!
I hope you enjoyed following along for this experimental tutorial. Let me know if you would like to see an updated version of this post and I’ll try to give it a bit higher priority on my list!
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