Help Needed!! Shirring on a Brother? (Brother HS1000)

I am REALLY, REALLY hoping that someone can help me.  I am having the worst luck getting shirring with elastic thread to work on my machine.  I spent over 4 hours yesterday troubleshooting this and trying to get this to work!!   My hand is so sore from seam ripping...and I have wasted so much elastic thread it is not even funny. 

So I turned to this forum for help.     I did some searching and found that a lot of people with brother machines seem to struggle with shirring with elastic thread.  Could it possibly be the machine I am using?  Has anyone with a brother had any luck or found a trick to get it to work?  (I have a Brother HS1000.)  I am hoping it is not the machine because I can't exactly afford to start swapping machines to get it to work. 

This is what I have tried so far:
1)  Experimenting with winding the bobbin:  I am hand winding the bobbin.  And...
I have tried winding it loosely, but that didn't work. 
I have tried winding it tightly, but that didn't work. 
I have tried winding it loosely, but not too loose, but that didn't work
I have tried winding it tightly, but not too tight  , but that didn't work.

2) Machine tension settings:   I have messed with my machines tension settings at all of those different "bobbin winding techniques".  That didn't work.

3)  I have messed with my stitch length:  I have adjusted my stitch length from 2.5 to 5 at all of those different "bobbin winding techniques" and at all of the different tension settings, but that didn't work.

4)  I have tried adjusting what stitch type I use.  I have tried a straight stitch, a zig zag, and this fancy "stretchy" stitch.  That didn't work.

5)  I have been always sewing multiple, multiple rows.  Because I have heard that you need to sew a lot of rows before you start to get a gathered effect.  That is not working.  they just look like straight rows of stitching with no gathering or stretch what so ever.

6)  I have tried misting the fabric with water after I am finished.  (I read on line where that can sometimes help it to become more gathered.)  That did nothing. 


SO---at this point, can anyone think of any other tips to try?  Thanks in advance.  (Seriously, I can't say thank you enough for any help!) 

There's got to be a way for your Brother to produce a shirred fabric.
Nothing happened at all when you turned up your tension AND increased your stitch length? I would turn these up to longest length and tightest tension and sew with both cranked up.
Sew a few rows and make sure while you are sewing your rows you are stretching your fabric flat again if there are any sort of gather at all.
After sewing rows, you need to mist your fabric, but also iron it. Be careful not to burn the elastic thread. I can just hold my iron above the thread to see everything shrink up. If you press, do it carefully.

I have a Brother machine too and I've wasted hours on trying to get shirring to work. My theory is that it doesn't work with machines that have bobbins that lay flat rather than on their side. Something maybe to do with the bobbin tension.

I feel your pain.

I tried for hours & hours as well on my Brother, tight bobbin, loose bobbin, etc...

I finally figured that it was too hard with all the fancy electronics so I bought a cheap Kenmore. Maybe not the best solution but it was worth to me.

It worked right away in Kenmore

I had tried this once on my old Brother (a basic 13 stitch model) and it didn't work.

After reading your post, I tried it on my Brother CS6000i.  Still nothing (except a mess).

I emailed the company.  They are unaware of any problems with shirring on Brother machines.  This indicates to me that they have their head in the sand.  A simple google search will turn up several results with sewists saying that their Brother machine won't shirr properly.

I read a lot of posts...

Finally I found someone who posted that they had this problem, but then used the machine to wind the bobbin of elastic (just as you would for regular thread).  The tension of the elastic on the bobbin will be pretty high, but it worked for them and for me!

I have my top thread tension on 3 (out of 9).  My bobbin was wound on top of the machine (I just put the spool of elastic thread on the post that holds my normal thread, routed the elastic as I would for any other bobbin, and away I went).  My stitch length is set to 5.  Everything worked like a charm.  I am so happy!  I totally wasn't expecting this to work, so I don't even know what project to work on first.

I have had the same problems with elastic thread on my Brother and have discovered the solution!  While pulling my hair out to figure this out, I came across a blogger who has the answer.  It has to do with tightening the screw on the bobbin case.  Mine has a dot of green paint on the tension screw.  You need to use a very small screwdriver to tighten it.  Check out her explanation and you will be amazed!

http://gigglesmum-creativeheart.blogspot.com/2009/10/shirring-problems-i-cracked-it.html

FINALLY!!!  I'm not crazy after all!!!!

Hallelujah! Hopefully this will bring some closure to this issue. Thanks so much for sharing.

My Brother won't shir either!  I have tried everything.  I am going to try winding it with the machine.  My last resort is to pull out my old machine and do it on that.  I am scared to adjust the bobbin tension that I won't get it back to normal when I am finished.

I am having teh SAME problem on my baby lock! i posed above you. I will try some of the brother tricks on my machine!

I've finally been able to get my Brother 6000i to shirr (is that even a word?) following these instructions:

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/05/one_hour_elastic_thread_dress.html

I wound the bobbin thread using the machine in the same way I do regular thread. I changed the stitch length to 3 and increased the tension to 5. Weirdly though, it gathered much more on my test piece of fabric than my project fabric.

I just don't understand why it's so blooming hard! Anyway, it gathered enough to make the dress in the project above which made me happy.

I tried all of these things and nothing worked on my Brother.

So, I was having the same problem.  I have a Brother CS6000i and this is what ended up working for me.  I wound the bobbing using the machine winder.  I then set set my upper tension to nine and my lower to 5.  The rows I made had to be 1/4" apart for it to do anything significant.  I then sprayed it/dampened the elastic and ironed it.  Now, it looks great.

Hi, I hope this video tutorial in shirring with a brother sewing machine will help you:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvXzoFzvVFQ&feature=player_embedded

I have tried all of these including tightening the tension screw...mine was already as tight as it would go, plus I've been told that playing with that is not a good idea if you can avoid it.  for me the trick is to take my bobbin case out of the machine and put the thread in then put the whole thing back in...I have no clue why it works but it does.  I have pics and a tutorial here if anyone needs it:

http://www.wildflowersandwhimsy.com/2012/05/sewing-school-day-9-shirring/