shirring

Last week I made myself a summer top..a boob tube no less!
I know you will excuse me its non ironed state...and please also excuse the fact my vanity has to point out that I am not pregnant its the angle ;)
 All thanks to some fantastic tutorials and inspiration found via Twitter and Blogger.
First I found this tutorial, and then the lovely lady just blogged and blogged about all the shirred things she had been making until I could barely resist....
Then Birgitta posted her fabulous tutorial here and I stayed up until midnight - laptop and machine on to make me something to wear for a bbq.
The hardest thing was choosing my fabric, but I decided on Michael Millers garden pindot in orchid (available here). I used under a metre (75cm) to make it so it was great value, so for less than £10 I got a unique summer top.
I have to admit, as a novice maker of clothes, that I never imagined I would be able to make a 'smocked' type top....its not perfect..lets put it this way, you won't be seeing a close up of my shirring!!! But its wearable and was comfy and most importantly.......stayed up!!! And addictive.. I was going to do 3 rows of shirring but had to stop myself at 7!!!

Birgitta has had her fabulous tutorial on shirring published on The Sewing Directory and you can find it here. And I heard on the twittervine that Birgitta will be writing regularly for The Sewing Directory, so we can expect more great tutorials in the future.
And also check out her folksy shop here...where you can find more lovely clothing made by Birgitta.

Shirring Elastic can be found here....in packs of 3 so you can fill your summer wardrobe with fabulous tops and dresses.