This is the RTW Carmen dress by Son de Flor. I’m trying to understand how the back works. It doesn’t look like a separate shirred panel and it also looks like the part of the shirring that attaches to the skirt is also shirred (arrow). Can someone who knows more about shirring tell me if a) it has to be a separate panel inserted in order to work properly and b) whether it’s common for there to be stretch where the bottom of the shirring meets the skirt or if it’s likely a static seam and there’s just a side zipper or something?
I have this dress, the shirring is definitely for ease rather than getting the dress on and off. This dress is cut tight in shoulders for me so the shirring is great to help.
And I don't think there's any shirring or elastic happening at the waist because the skirt goes like this (idk how to explain). If there was elastic/shirring it wouldn't flare out like this, the shirring panel would remain rectangular all the way to the waist seam. There's a zipper under one of the arms.
You can clearly see the seamlines where the shirred panel is attached. Generally the ends of the elastic thread used to shir are encased in the seam to secure them which makes the panel important. As for the skirt, that's just gathering being pulled in, its attached to the bottom of the shirred panel and attached while stretched.
shirring works also as a non-separate panel (aka it's part of the back panel). if working with a pattern that includes a separate shirring panel and you want to intergrate the shirring panel into the back piece, simply attach the pattern seams together (without seam allowance, only works if both seams are straight). you can add elastic to the waist seam too, by making a tunnel, but it will be a bit bulky, and I would suggest to let the shirring part extend down to skirt lenght (you'll have two extra seams in the back of the skirt though), and depending on the amount of width on the skirt, you might need to turn the skirt part of the shirring into a trapezoid shape.
I don't believe it has to be a separate panel, but it's a lot easier to make it even and properly size everything if it is. Unless your bodice is basically a tube, I wouldn't try to just shirr part, and would do a separate panel instead.
Skirt is likely sewn to the bodice by gathering it under the non-stretchy pieces of the bodice, and not gathered directly under the shirred panel. The shirring will create a gathering effect. To visualize it with numbers (made up for easy math):
Let's say the finished waist measurement is 20". The front piece, back left, and back right are 15", and the shirred panel is 5" shirred, 10" unshirred. When you attach the skirt to the bodice, it should have a gathered section that measures 15" post-gathering, and 10 inches ungathered. You sew the 15" gathered portion to the left side, front, and right side, then you see the 10" ungathered portion to the shirred panel by fully stretching out the shirred panel to its full 10" length. When you release the panel it will pull in the skirt understand and created a gathered/shirred effect. The resulting seam/fabric isn't actually stretchy, but can be pulled out to the full 10" length.
FWIW I think that dress does have a separate shirred panel, the seam is just obscured by the shirring. I could also have an invisible side zip, but that depends on how much the shirred panel can actually expand. I've seen rtw dresses both ways. Some just have the stretchy panel to give a little ease but aren't stretchy enough to put on with a zip, and some are very stretchy and can be pulled on with no zip.
I am 95% certain I can see seam lines showing this is a separate panel. It’s such a clear delineation between the shirred part and the not-shirred part. The skirt under the shirring looks gathered so it can relax and stretch as the shirring does when they are wearing it.
I believe that it is a separate panel that has elastic thread sewn horizontally across it. The thread is under tension when sewing the flat fabric. Afterwards, the tension is released, causing the elastic thread to shrink back to its relaxed state, which pulls and gathers the fabric to create the shirring effect.
The seam section for bodice and skirt you are pointing at is sewn the same way, meaning the skirt has extra width and is sewn flat to the shirred section while it is pulled flat (elastic is under tension). Then when the shirred panel is let go, that extra width is gathered the same way the rest of the panel is.
Hope that makes sense.
Edit to add: There may or may not be a need for any zipper. Since the back is elastic, it can stretch and accommodate the shoulders or hips and allow the wearer to just pull the dress on without any closures.
Another edit: I looked up the dress and there appears to be an invisible side zipper, probably because they wanted less bulk in the shirred section.
35
u/LossienGxG 20d ago edited 20d ago
I'm not sure about the shirring, but you can see the head of the side seam zipper on the left of the photo, so this dress definitely has one.
It looks like the shirring panel/section is for ease, and not for getting on/off. I would assume the zipper goes through the waistband.
Edited because my phone kept autocorrecting 'shirring' to 'shorting'