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Dawn from Designed by Dawn Nicole shares a tutorial on her blog showing how to do elastic thread shirring on her Brother sewing machine, which has a drop-in bobbin. She also shows how she uses her machine’s bobbin winder to fill the bobbins with elastic thread. I’ve always filled by bobbins with elastic thread by hand – winding and winding and winding until I’m half mad – so I was thrilled to see how she used her machine for that step. Get the how-to.
[photo from Designed by Dawn Nicole]
I am just smitten with this felt gingerbread house bag. This would make such a sweet special Christmas accessory for a kid. It’s a free pattern at Benzie Design, designed by Gracie from Hello Gracie Makes. It’s packed with adorable gingerbread house details, like swirls and stripes and scallops adoring the doors and windows.
And while all those details might seem like this would be a complicated pattern, it’s actually not. The bag itself is made from felt, which makes finishes edges unnecessary. (All of those scalloped edges are just cut from felt, no edge finishing required.) The strap is super simple, made from rope with knotted ends. And all those details are made with some basic hand embroidery stitches. Sparkle felt makes it extra cute.
The striped scallop roof is actually the top flap of the bag. A magnetic snap makes it a secure closure. The rope straps are attached through felt loops at the side of the bag.
They rate this project as an intermediate level, and it should take about 6 hours to make start to finish. That’s doable for a Saturday project or a couple of evenings. Full color photos step you through the entire process.
The project includes a shopping list for all of your supplies. They’ve got a shop so you can order all of them from Benzie if you like and get exactly the supplies used in the project. I noticed it includes a pair of scallop shears, which makes cutting all the scalloped edges for the roof and around the door a breeze.
Finished dimensions of the little felt gingerbread bag are approximately 6 ½” wide x 7 ½” tall. That’s the perfect size to hold a small book, a small toy, or a notepad and some cute pens.
Go to Benzie Design to get the tutorial and free pattern for the felt gingerbread house bag.
I finally found the round elastic and am going to give this a try. Thanks for the tutorial.
I have a brother electronic machine and I have shirred before on it with elastic thread but this time I am having trouble. It seems to knot up and not work. I am trying to shirr some flat lace (cotton} to put around Christmas place mats. Can you give me some info? I have checked several sites but I will take several ideas from anyone. Thank you, God bless America and have a happy holiday season.
Alice, I have not shirred flat lace before so unfortunately I don’t have any advice to offer. I wonder if the threads are tangling because of the holes in the fabric? If so, is there a way you can somehow stabilize the lace while it goes under the needle, perhaps with a water soluble stabilizer? My thinking is that the stabilizer would give the fabric too much body and you wouldnt get a good shirr effect. Or, maybe try adjusting your tension? These are just shots in the dark, though. My guess is that you’ll have to experiment some to figure out how to make it work. –Anne
Your are SEW clear! I’ve tried shirring in the past with limited success, not knowing to tighten the bobbin tension. Can’t wait to have another go! Thanks! In stitches, L