would this be similar to the pillowcase dress?

[lroberts324]

I just love this, how would you do the pleated top? I don't sew well, this might be out of my league.

Etsy :: Coochooloo :: NEAPOLITAN halter summer top in Alexander Henry designer fabric, size 6-12 months

[jymaldonado]

Originally Posted by MommyRYLI

You can find smocking machines for sale, they are a little pricy, but you can also learn to do it by hand. My mother hand smocks my daughters dresses, she says it's not too hard, but I wouldn't know I've never tried. You can find tutorials on the internet.
The one that the halter top has is machine made.

I did not even know that there were much things as smock machines. It would be cute to make something like that, but I won't want to buy a whole machine just for a couple of dresses

[jymaldonado]

Originally Posted by MommyRYLI

I never knew until my mother told me, I always thought people hand smocked their dresses .
Here's a link to ebay so that you can get an idea what they look like, sometimes you can find good deals on ebay for some of these machines.

smocking machine, Sewing, Crafts items on eBay.com

.

You were not kidding about it being expensive, wow

[rsharp]

that looks like shirring. when you wind the bobbin with elastic instead of thread. it draws the fabric up so it looks kinda like its smocked. really easy to do, and all you need is some 0.98 elastic from walmart. smocking is beautiful and very time consuming, this is quick but not near as artistic.

[jymaldonado]

Originally Posted by rsharp

that looks like shirring. when you wind the bobbin with elastic instead of thread. it draws the fabric up so it looks kinda like its smocked. really easy to do, and all you need is some 0.98 elastic from walmart. smocking is beautiful and very time consuming, this is quick but not near as artistic.

That's interesting, I would be up for trying that. So, it is just elastic thread?

[olivia-mom]

I am VERY new to sewing, but the woman that I bought mine from said the same thing...you wind elastic thread around the bobbin tightly...I think that I bought a different foot too...can't remember. Can anyone post a tutorial?

[Settlefamily]

I'm definately interested in a tutorial on this!!!! I;ve seen regular elastic in the rolls for 98cents at Wal-mart but I've never searched for elastic thread. I use the regular in my pillowcase dresses.

Sounds interesting!
Amanda

[Wendy523]

Definitely shirring!!!!!!! I could put a shirring tutorial on my list of things to do

[Tonya]

I agree on the shirring thing! Although, when I do it I usually use a much wider cut of fabric so there's more fullness. I use the entire 45" fabric width for all sizes from 18 mo - size 5 - it's just the length and armhole that changes. There for a while I had a pretty unique pattern since I liked having sleeves on my shirred outfits. Not sure how popular it is anymore, but there for a while it was the 'thing' for boutique eBay clothes.

Somewhere on this computer (although I can't seem to find where at the moment) I have some good shirring tips. If I find them I'll put them in the sewing thread.

Here are a couple I've done:

[Wendy523]

I just did a search for shirring tutorials, I did not read through them word for word, but thought it could help someone!

http://portabellopixie.typepad.com/p...s_tutorial.pdf

Kuky Ideas » Shirred Dress Tutorial