Hi, everyone! I am Lelanie, one of the 3 "L"adies behind
I am really excited to be guest posting for Jennifer today. I hope you don't mind if you don't get your daily dose of Jennifer's craftiness since I'd invade her space for a while^^)
We love sharing our crafting and sewing adventures (and misadventures ^^). Just recently, we have shared tutorials such as these:
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Do you, like me, hold on to scrap fabrics knowing that you'll make something out of it one day? Well, last week, I made these from 1 yard of Michael Miller fabric (pink) and 1/2 yard of japanese cotton fabric (black).
summer dress
clutch
très chic ruffly summer dress
After I've made these projects, I still had less than half-meter of the pink fabric and a little more than a a quarter of the black fabric. So, I have decided to make a shirred tunic for my princess.
So, for this tunic dress I used:
2 pcs. 18" x 9" black fabric for top band of tunic
2 pcs. 12" x 4.5" for shoulder bands
2 pcs. 18" x 16" pink fabric
elastic thread, elastic band
black and white sewing thread
Get one of your top band (black fabric) and fold it in half, wrong sides of fabric together, place it on top of your pink fabric as shown above (both fabrics right sides facing together).
You can pin them together before sewing or just sew right away keeping edges aligned as you sew a straight stitch 1/4" away from the edge.
After that, do a zigzag stitch or serge. Whichever floats your boat ^^)
Topstitch. Do the same to the other black and pink fabric.
So, you'll have two of these.
Get one piece of your tunic and let's start shirring by sewing a straight stitch but set your stitch length either 3.0 or 3.5. You will need to wind elastic thread in your bobbin for this.
When your reach one end of your straight stitch, while your needle is down, lift the presser foot and turn your fabric 90º.
Sew 2-3 stitches depending on how long you'd want your stitches apart.
Turn your fabric 90º and you can start sewing again, using your presser foot as guide.
When you're finished, you'll have something like this. Do the same to the other piece. I would have used black elactic thread but I had none on hand. If you'd like your fabric to be more gathered, iron it (the other side, not the side where your elastic thread is or else, it will stick to your iron) with steam. The gathers will become closer to each other - magic!
Get both tunic pieces, place them wrong sides together and sew a straight stitch 1/8" away from the edge.
Iron or press with your nail.
Fold your fabric, right sides together and sew a straight stitch 1/4" away from the edge.
You've just made a nice french hem! Do the same to the other side.
Hem your tunic using your desired style.
Now, let's make the straps. With your fabric right sides together sew a straight stitch on both longer sides.
Turn and topstitch.
Sew 2 columns of straight stitches so you'll have a casing where you could insert your elastic band.
Insert your elastic and sew close each end.
Do the same to the other shoulder band.
With some small scrap fabric, I made two bows, one on top of another.
Attach your shoulder bands to your tunic and the bow on the center. Now call your princess so she could try it on!
she wouldn't even look at the camera, eyes glued at the tv watching tinkerbell the movie!
Now, you have a nice summer shirred tunic for your princess!
After I've made these projects, I still had less than half-meter of the pink fabric and a little more than a a quarter of the black fabric. So, I have decided to make a shirred tunic for my princess.
So, for this tunic dress I used:
2 pcs. 18" x 9" black fabric for top band of tunic
2 pcs. 12" x 4.5" for shoulder bands
2 pcs. 18" x 16" pink fabric
elastic thread, elastic band
black and white sewing thread
Get one of your top band (black fabric) and fold it in half, wrong sides of fabric together, place it on top of your pink fabric as shown above (both fabrics right sides facing together).
You can pin them together before sewing or just sew right away keeping edges aligned as you sew a straight stitch 1/4" away from the edge.
After that, do a zigzag stitch or serge. Whichever floats your boat ^^)
Topstitch. Do the same to the other black and pink fabric.
So, you'll have two of these.
Get one piece of your tunic and let's start shirring by sewing a straight stitch but set your stitch length either 3.0 or 3.5. You will need to wind elastic thread in your bobbin for this.
When your reach one end of your straight stitch, while your needle is down, lift the presser foot and turn your fabric 90º.
Sew 2-3 stitches depending on how long you'd want your stitches apart.
Turn your fabric 90º and you can start sewing again, using your presser foot as guide.
When you're finished, you'll have something like this. Do the same to the other piece. I would have used black elactic thread but I had none on hand. If you'd like your fabric to be more gathered, iron it (the other side, not the side where your elastic thread is or else, it will stick to your iron) with steam. The gathers will become closer to each other - magic!
Get both tunic pieces, place them wrong sides together and sew a straight stitch 1/8" away from the edge.
Iron or press with your nail.
Fold your fabric, right sides together and sew a straight stitch 1/4" away from the edge.
You've just made a nice french hem! Do the same to the other side.
Hem your tunic using your desired style.
Now, let's make the straps. With your fabric right sides together sew a straight stitch on both longer sides.
Turn and topstitch.
Sew 2 columns of straight stitches so you'll have a casing where you could insert your elastic band.
Insert your elastic and sew close each end.
Do the same to the other shoulder band.
With some small scrap fabric, I made two bows, one on top of another.
Attach your shoulder bands to your tunic and the bow on the center. Now call your princess so she could try it on!
Now, you have a nice summer shirred tunic for your princess!
I hope you liked this tutorial. And do check our blog for more tutorials and free patterns.
Thanks a lot, Jennifer, for having us here today. We really enjoyed it!
Hugs,
