No matter how hard I try or how many how-to’s I follow I can’t shirr. There…I admitted it & whew, what a load off my mind! I’m sure I can’t be the only shirr-challenged refashionista out there so I came up with a shirr-cheat guaranteed to fool even the most professional of shirrers:
Look at that! Shirred bodice, shirred sleeves & shirred hems – all without any actual shirring going on! Here’s the secret:
Start with a shirred top (this jersey – yay, no hemming – preggie dress was perfect!)
turn inside out & lay on a flat surface
grab a top & pair of pants that fit your tot loosely & place them on top of your dress – necklines lined up (just like my Jolly Jumpsuit Tute)
trace around the top & pants then pin the dress together following the line
remove the top & pants & cut around your pins – keep the remaining scraps handy
zip over to your machine & sew together
pop the nearly-a-playsuit onto your munchkin and measure the length for the straps
as my preggie dress had shirred sleeves I simply chopped them off, trimmed the edges & cut them to size
pinned ’em in place (for some extra cuteness I crossed them in the back)
stitched ’em on
I still had a lot of shirred scraps left over so I chopped a couple of equal(ish) strips
sewed them into tubes
and stitched them to the ‘ankles’ of the playsuit
and finished!
floofy, fluttery sleeves…
adorable criss-cross back…
Want to transform your entire wardrobe for pennies? Grab all of my groovy CoaR tutorial collections right here:
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