Mandala Crafts Black Shirring Elastic Thread for Sewing, Knitting, Smocking, and DIY Crafts - 546 Yards 0.6mm Fine Thin Stretch Thread for Sewing Machines

I have been trying to sew a cotton gauze summer dress with a name-brand shirring elastic thread I bought. Its been a... trial. I managed, mostly. But of course I was running low on the 30yd spool after having countless problems getting it to be reasonably stretchy and consistent. I used a huge 'scrap' of fabric just practicing the stitch, with very inconsistent and often not-very-stretchy results. It was frustrating to say the least, and I darn near gave up and just tried to make faux shirring with 1/4" elastic. But I am a tenacious sort, and this Mandala thread is affordable. Plus I have been really pleased with other Mandala brand products I have tried in the past. So, I decided to give it one more go. Well, I am ecstatic with how easy shirring became once I switched to this elastic. It works with basically any highish needle tension. Its easier to wind on the bobbin. At first I was a bit concerned at how different the two elastic threads were. They are the same size and color, but thats where the similarities end. This thread has well over 100% stretch and excellent recovery, whereas the other had about 70% stretch and so-so recovery. All the shirring tutorials I saw said the fabric should shrink to around 50% of its original width, and after hours of struggle the best I managed before was 65%. While the Mandala thread gives me just under 50%. Perfect. I am not sure how the thread will hold up long term in a garment, but the same can be said about the other brand. I mean, I have never known shirred garments to be terribly durable anyway. As for shirring a lightweight fabric like cotton double gauze, its just a dream. Like, its fail proof with this thread and fabric, at least with my ancient Husqy Viking machine. In fact, after all the trouble and frustration yesterday, suddenly shirring is quite fun thanks to buying a different thread. I will not hesitate to buy different colors if I ever run out of this spool (its massive!) but for just a basic light colored garment, this thread works great. Its hidden anyway. If you are looking for thread for shirring fabric, try this. Heck, if you failed before at shirring or are intimidated by it, try this thread. Its excellent. So good that I am willing to pick ten lines of shirring on double gauze off the sleeves of my dress just to replace it with this thread. I imagine every sewist knows how unappealing I find that job overall- thats how much I like this thread. * The shirring on the right (5 rows) in the image is the old brand, and on the left (4 rows) is the Mandala thread. Look how much nicer the Mandala shirring is!

This worked really well while sewing and turned out beautifully. It didn't shrink with the steam, like other threads do when used for shirring. I'm wondering if that'll make a difference. I'm hoping the durability is amazing because you get a lot of thread for the money.

There are a lot of listings for shirring elastic, but not all are created equal. Mandala’s 0.6mm elastic thread has outstanding spring to it. It’s lovely to work with. I know hand winding the bobbin is standard for elastic shirring thread but I used my sewing machine bobbin winder. The only change I made was instead of wrapping the thread around the tension head I chose to guide it from the Mandala spool over my finger to sense exactly how much resistance was applied in loading it. I applied a feather light pull and that was absolutely perfect for the soft sheer fabric I was working with. I don’t have photos yet, but I’ll try to update with photos later. Oh, and customer service…. Their customer service is top notch. I had a question and a special request and was thrilled to hear back from them quickly. The team at Mandala obviously cares about selling a quality product and helping customers get what they need. I highly recommend the 0.6mm 546 yard elastic sewing thread for shirring. The thread size is perfect and the length provided will provide ample thread for countless projects. You can’t beat the value for money. If you’re on the fence on which supplier to use I hope this makes it easy for you. My money is on Mandala and I know I’ll be buying more from them after this experience.

I used this to repair the cuffs on a leather jacket instead of replacing the entire cuffs. The old elastic thread had pretty much disintegrated making the cuffs too loose. It took a while to hand sew this elastic thread in but it worked great! The brown color matched perfectly.

The elastic is good, but where is the starter end?????????? I cut the lengths needed to add shirring to a crochet top by hand.

It works great! Very durable, great value for your money, and the color is as expected. It does knot easily because it’s elastic but I still highly recommend it! The rolls are very large so you can get a lot of use for your money!

Muy buena calidad

it did its job, but I did have a problem with it breaking if it got overextended overall it’s not bad I’m going to continue to use. It but you can definitely do better

Excelente hilo elástico.

This shirring elastic work great and you get a lot for the price! Definitely happy with the purchase.

La pieza es bastante grande y el hilo es muy resistente y elástico, cumple con la descripción

Decent elasticity. Value for money is excellent

The best elastic I’ve ever used for sewing. Can also be used for crafts. Not very thick but great quality.