Smocking is back in fashion, I can’t remember the last time I used sheering elastic to smock a piece of fabric! Since my last project giveaway I have had several requests to cover the technique, so here we go – a blast from the past.

You will need:

 

Some cotton fabric, gingham works well; the width can be between 1 and a half to twice your finished bust measurement. If you choose to use the technique to make a skirt then the width of the fabric needs to be approximately 1.5 to 2 X your waist measurement. The length of the fabric is up to you.

Some ribbon or fabric to make the straps, approximately 1.5 meters in length and as wide as you choose.

1 reel of matching regular sewing thread

1 reel of matching sheering elastic

1 empty spool

A tape measure

Some fabric scissors

A few pins

A ruler or a set square

Either fabric marking chalk or a fabric marking pencil (one that will disappear).

Let’s sew

Step1 – cut the cotton fabric piece as follows:

Take the measurement across the fullest part of your bust and multiply this measurement by between 1.5 to 2.

For example a bust of 90cm would need between 135cm to 180cm – my fabric is 150cm wide so I will use the full width of the piece to simplify things, now I just need to decide how long I want my top and for me this is 53cm.

 

Step 2 – Take the empty spool  and wrap the elastic thread around the bobbin case, pulling as you go, the more you pull the more elasticated your top will be, you do need to pull a good amount and steadily, this hurts your fingers a little, but the results will be worth it!

Insert the elastic filled spool case into your machine and with normal thread at the top, pull the elastic through the machine as you would normally. The only difference is that you have elastic and not sewing thread on the spool. If you can, release the foot pressure on your machine and set the machine to the longest stitch length available.

Step 3 – Decide how far down the top neck edge of your fabric piece you would like the smocking to start, leave this amount and a little extra for the hem allowance. Mark your first line of sheering with your fabric pen or chalk pen along the piece on the right side of the fabric, you can continue to mark each sewing line if you wish, or simply mark the first sewing line and then use the width of your sewing foot to sew each subsequent line of stitching.

Step 4 – Take your fabric to the machine and with the right side facing upwards sew your first row of stitching, DO NOT BACK TACK AT THE BEGINNING OR END OF THE ROW and leave nice long elastic and thread ends so that they can be tied off to secure later. Continue to sew lines of stitching underneath until you are happy with the depth of the sheering, for my example I stopped at 17 rows of stitching.

Step 5 – Now tie each row of stitching off at the ends to secure.

 

Step 6 – now you can sew the vertical seam, this can be your center back seam, and neaten with your preferred method, as I used the whole width of the fabric my fabric edges are the selvedge of the fabric and don’t need to be neatened.

Step 7 – Hem the bottom of your garment, a double hem will finish off the hem edge nicely if you don’t have an overlocker!

Step 8 – Now try the top on and attach straps if you want to, you can use ribbon, or a decorative trim or even the same fabric as the top. When you are happy with the strap position and length you can sew the neckline hem, sandwiching the straps into the seam.

Adding Fabric Straps

To add fabric straps in the self fabric cut 4 strips of fabric equal to the length of strap you need and double the finished width you want with some extra for seam allowance.

The straps can be pinned to the top edge of your garment, pin so that the end of the strap is tucked under the seam allowance and catch the strap into the seam as you hem this top edge.

Now fold the strap back on itself to face upwards to the neck and top stitch from the right side to make sure the straps lie flat. You can sew all the way around the top if you wish to create some decorative top stitching if you wish, it simply secure the hems in position were you need to.

 

You can choose to secure the strap just where the pin is or as shown below you can top stitch all the way around the top to add some detail.

Give your top a good press, there is no need to press the sheering section, but you can give it a nice steam to relax the elastic.

Now you have mastered this method why not make yourself a skirt, or use the method to introduce sheered panels into your sewing projects.

As always, any questions at all then please get in touch.

Nicola