August 27, 1997
e-Mail: mainfairy@smockingbooks.com
Website: Garden Fairies Smocking & Needlearts Catalog
Smocking Newsletter - Beth-Katherine Kaiman, copyright 1997-2004, all rights reserved. Please respect my creativity and hard work and ask permission before you copy something from these newsletters for your non profit goup, I always ask that you quote me correctly and give me credit with a way for people to get back to me. Thank you. IF you wish to quote me in a venture for profit please contact me separately concerning royalties.
From our Readers
Smocking History
Smocking Stitches
Beginner's Corner
1930's
"Nature abhors a vacuum" Hey maybe that's why I hate cleaning, being a natural girl?
After the stockmarket crash of 1929 life was difficult and strained for many Americans as well as other countries around the world. Fabric became a treasured commodity and people invented many ways of recycling fabric through quilts or as my mother fondly 'reminisced' - feed sack underwear. The smocked fashions of the twenties for children remained basically unchanged through the 30's, of course there was present the flavor of the times and the style of the designer but for the most part a standard of style of children's smocked fashions had become set, smocked basic yoke & bishop dresses for little girls and smocked shirts with button-on pants for boy's.
The fabrics used most often were linen, crepe de chine and shantung silk and for special occasions velvet or velveteen. In my collection I have a beautiful little coat from this time period made of shantung silk or pongee silk. The style is raglan sleeves and the wave stitch smocking is worked around the neckline to shoulders worked in a very loose style, almost as if it was a decorative stitch rather than tightly gathered. I know this because the lining of the coat fits the coat exactly without distortion that would have occurred if the smocking had just loosened.
In women's fashions the fashion world was entranced with the bias cut, form fitting clothing - without the corset, so smocking with it's propensity for adding fabric was delegated to bringing in gathered fabric at the cuffs and the waistline. There is a beautiful sleeveless nightgown from the 30's that I remember seeing at a museum, as well as in an old SAGA magazine, made of rayon fabric (the imitation silk of the era) which was cinched in at the waist by honeycomb smocking in the form of a diamond which accented the figure in the 30's style. The style is similar to what Jean Harlow wore in some of her movies. This was a very popular nightgown style as I have seen many nightgowns still around in antique stores.
Continuing on from last issue we are going to look at the wave stitch. This stitch can be quite exciting when combined with itself or other wave and cable combinations to create pattern smocking. There are two basic waves: Baby Wave or simple wave - worked between the row above, row 1, (point A) and half space (point B) or the mirror image - the row below, row 2, and the 1/2 row above. Wave which is worked between full rows and no half space in between. These stitches are used often in combination with cables in making grids and basic geometric designs. With the space in between point A and Point B you can weave a ribbon through.
BEGINNER'S CORNER - Fitting Garments on Children Part One
Here is a nifty site from the Mississippi State University. It gives exact measurements of children for making basic patterns. You can cut and paste the charts for infants/toddlers/children the URL: http://www.ces.msstate.edu/pubs/pub1399.htm
Fitting garments to young children is very easy because basically their torsos are straight from chest to waist. Toddlers have a round tummy that you have to be concerned about which is why for girls the basic yoke dress and bishop are perfect cover-ups, but it's when your girl starts getting older and gaining a shape that she starts balking at the full voluminous shape of those garments and prefers to choose her own clothes which are usually close fitting to the body - like tee-shirts and jeans.
This turn of events can be very frustrating for the mom, auntie or grandmom who loves to smock. This is the time that husbands refer to as the Smocked Empty Nest Syndrome where then everything in the house that needs covering is fair game. This phenomena can be observed with the proliferation of smocked tea cozies, smocked toilet paper holders, smocked vacuum covers etc. It is also a time when husbands have to be firm with their wives and just say 'NO' to their wives addiction and convince them that smocking covers for their golf clubs or attaching a smocked insert to their golf bag just isn't the fashion on the golf course. A man has to be gentle with his wife during this period because rejection of one's art form by the usual recipient is difficult to adjust to. "No honey", a man has to say, "I don't want a smocked belt nor do I want teddy bears on my night shirt". You have to realize it's a very fragile time for the smocker, this rejection thing. I am reminded of the photograph of Elizabeth Travis Johnson's husband at a SAGA convention wearing a smocked tuxedo shirt - ah now there was an understanding man.
So what to do. Well compromise is a word that always comes to my mind or adapting to smocking a different style. The challenge of smocking for the older girl has been one that has stumped many smocking women of our generation over the past 15 years. The three talented designers of the early 1980's, Laura Jenkins Thompson, Molly Jane Taylor, Ellen McCarn have all suffered SENS (Smocking Empty Nest Syndrome) (or as their husbands call it Senseless Smocking Syndrome or SSS) and have turned to other ways to satisfy their needlework cravings. Laura is still designing smocking plates but also works up her lovely designs in the duplicate stitch medium - you can see many of her new designs in Sew Beautiful. Molly Jane Taylor - smocking plate designer extrordinaire, the last I heard was lost in her garden but maybe soon will be coming out with new smocking designs because the grapevine says some inspiring grandbabies are on the way. Ellen McCarn - another creative smocking plate designer - has turned her creative talents towards re-working some old favorite patterns ironing out the kinks that everyone has complained about over the years, starting with the Bishop dress and with the Basic Yoke dress coming out next month, she is also coming out with new smocking designs next spring.
I Need Help With My Stitches
Beth-Katherine, I subscribe to your newsletter. I have been trying to learn to smock, but my stitches look terrible. My aunt just started and hers are perfect (IMO). I don't know what I am doing wrong. I'm using the Ellen McCarn on English Smocking book to teach myself. I would like to take a class, but I live in New York City and can't even find a shop that sells smocking supplies. I don't know if the stitches are too loose or two tight. What do you suggest I do to learn faster? I am expecting twins in February and want to learn. I can sew and crosstitch, but this seems harder. Help!! Thanks! Alicia
Alicia would you consider sending me a sample of your work? I'm sure I'll be able to tell you what is wrong. I'm sure that you aren't tugging your floss flat flush, down or up, on the surface of the pleats - never tug up in the air towards you to tighten your stitches. Remember that you can always block your stitches looser if need be. I have a tendency to smock a bit tight but have not found any trouble with them after blocking. Another thing that might be happening is that you are not being consistent with the stitches you take. A few rules to keep in mind: 1) always keep your needle parallel with the pleating rows never put your needle into the fabric at an angle -always straight in. Beginners sometimes have trouble with this and it reflects in their work. 2) when working on the half space, or quarter space, always find the middle (1/4 space) with your needle and eyeball it to the previous stitch - this will keep your stitches even and consistent. I do this even after 12 years of smocking, it may take a bit of time but my smocking is even and smooth. Also try the working outline stitch first before the cable and wave stitch. Work a row all the way across making sure that your needle is parallel to the pleating row and that your stitches are even in tension.
Read what Ellen McCarn in her On English Smocking Book has to say about working this stitch. The reason I recommend working this stitch is that it is one where the floss is always in the up position, all the others have the floss moving up and down and this is confusing to the beginner smocker. Try what I suggested about tightening the stitch by pulling it flush against the fabric. What could be the problem is that you may not be remembering the pattern of floss up and floss down the wave and cable. This is why I suggest you switch to the outline stitch and practice it for a bit. Hope this helps, Beth
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Beth, I hope you can help. I did a load of laundry and my sons purple shorts ran all over all of the clothes. How do I get the purple out? Of course these shorts have been washed probably a dozen times with no problems before this! The house we moved into two days ago has a German washer. The washer takes two hours per load. I think it was too much time in the water for the shorts. Now I have to watch everything I wash to make sure they don't run. Can't wait to get back to sewing, but right now I have a house to put away. Yuck!!! Thanks for all the chat logs. I miss chatting with everyone, but it gets a tad bit expensive from here. Take Care, Meg Ross@aol.com
Does anyone out there have any suggestions for Meg? You can mail her direct even though she's moved to Japan she has kept her AOL account, can't come to the chats because of the cost but she's still around.
"Sitting on thistles doesn't do them any good. Takes all the life out of them. " -- Eeyore