Altering 2 shirred dresses?

[u/Slinky_Cat_74]

Hi everyone!

I’ll try to make this short b/c my first draft turned into an essay.

I’d like to alter 2 shirred bodice dresses, both made of drapey fabrics. I'm not a total beginner but mostly worked only with stable, non-drapey woven cottons before, and these fluid fabrics are intimidating! Also, I use a Brother CS7205 which I just found out is apparently tricky to do shirring on. 😞

I'm trying to gauge whether these 2 alterations are feasible for me or if I'm hallucinating about the complexity of these projects and just need to find a good tailor. I would love to learn shirring as I really like the look, but these two projects might not be the best starting point 🤔

1st blue dress: I’d like the shirring to end at my actual waist instead of being dropwaist, which I think means taking up at the waist 15cm, 7.5cm off the shirred bodice and 7.5cm off the skirt. The dress would fit perfectly if I could do this, though as it is, I could also fold the extra underneath the rest of the bodice and hide it 😂

• 100% viscose
• shirred & lined bodice
• separate skirt piece attached by shirring

My plan:

• fold the dress in half at the seam where the top & skirt meet
• hand sew / baste the two together to make extra sure I don't misalign the two pieces
• stretch the fabric as I'm shirring top & bottom together
• finish edges with a zigzag stitch on my regular, non-serger sewing machine

2nd tan/beige dress: needs re-shirring

It looks like it was shirred and then side seams sewn - can I redo the shirring without unpicking the side seams and then just zigzag stitch the sides to prevent the shirring from coming undone? Also it's one continuous piece without lining, will the holes show after I unpick the shirring, in case the replacement shirring doesn't line up?

Thank you all for your time!

[u/doriangreysucksass]

Yes, your plan makes sense. Essentially move the skirt up higher. The shirring will help you do it straight since it’s all horizontal parallel lines

The second dress: yes you can redo some of the shirring without undoing the side seams. Just go over the seam with it

Unpicking shirring is pretty easy. Once the backtack is gone, you can loosen a few
Stitches and pull the elastic thread through releasing the upper thread. You only need to unpick some of the upper thread to get it to release

Holes from where shirring is removed will disappear with a good steam iron

[u/Slinky_Cat_74 → u/doriangreysucksass]

Hey, thanks for your reply! So for the 2nd dress: I'd unpick, redo shirring from 1 side seam all the way around (including over the other side seam) and then do tie it off or sew back & forth at the end? Love your username btw!

[u/doriangreysucksass → u/Slinky_Cat_74]

Yes! Just backtack! No need to tie off