September 7, 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
.
In This Issue:
Smocking History
Beginner's Corner
Smocking Stitches
Moving up in History - the 20th Century
During the 30's, 40's and 50's (of this century) smocking moved into a more sophisticated vein as society became fascinated with the curves of the human figure, witness the birth and immergance of the bias cut onto the fashion scene by the late 1920's and 30's. The simplicity of the block-like structure of a smocked garment didn't appeal to women anymore (unless it was for casual wear) as the changes that women were going through society reflected their desire for more complex yet less constricting designs. Smocking still abounded on the children's fashions, basically unchanged in the basic yoke and bishop designs, and it is the time period of the 40's that the standards for smocked children's garments were set for our time period. Styles for children have basically remained unchanged since then, with variations and taste changes of our time period but fundamentally children's clothing has not evolved as drastically as women's fashions. Smocking for adults moved away from the rows and rows of outline and wave stitches as seen in the fashions of the beginning of this century, and whenever smocking was used it was more sophisticated with intricate manipulation of fabric rather than ornamental decoration - a change which reflected the way that women were changing in the way that they saw their roles in society, more complex creatures than simple ornamental decorations upon their husbands' arms (I'm talking the majority of women who were pushed into change by the wars that were shaping society as well as the woman's movement that was started by the Suffragette).
If used in woman's fashions the smocking stitches moved from being the focal point and texture of fabric created by smocking a loose stitch such as the honeycomb moved in. Fabric Manipulation became a word in our vocabularies. Women were no longer content with shirring fabric in a straight line and then embroidering over the pleats, they also wanted to experiment with the different patterns that one could do with puckering by working the running or shirring stitch in patterns and then pulling the thread tight creating this puckering. (I have a feeling that the Japanese art of Shibori, where you gather fabric into clusters of patterns then dye it and when it dries you take the gathering threads out leaving patterns of white where the thread was, was a major influence to Fabric Manipulation.)
There are traces of this avenue of smocking in what we refer to as Lattice Smocking, where you pick up the dots in a pattern on the back of the fabric which creates an interesting pattern of folds on the front of your fabric - rather than working a running stitch in a straight line and creating a straight row of pleats. (This is where a drawing would easily explain what I am talking about) You would see a lot of this style on pillows in the 50's. Today there are two designers who play with Fabric Manipulation Jerry Stocks (she writes articles in Sew Beautiful now and again) and Debbie Glenn the owner of the pattern company Love 'n Stitches (who is also frequently featured in Sew Beautiful). Debbie has utilized Lattice Smocking very prettily in her patterns, A Drop Waist and Dainty Dropped Waist (Mommy and me Fashions)- where the central panel of a princess line dress is done in Lattice Smocking. This style of dress appeals to the older girl who refuses to wear smocking because it is too babyish. Next issue 60's and 70's and the return to ethnic costumes.
"Hi--I am new to smocking and to using my pleater. How do you know what width of fabric to pleat into a certain size? For instance, I want to pleat fabric so it will measure 12" across, pleated--how much do I start with? Is this ratio the same for all smocking? I want to make some doll dresses, too. Do I use that ratio for dolls? Thanks, Debbie"
I have noticed that not too many people refer to gauge in smocking and I think that this should change. To truly get an understanding of working with pleats you really should take the time to experiment and find out for yourself how many inches of fabric it takes to make a inch of pleats - that really depends on how tight you smock and/or tie off your pleats. (I have noticed that in our generation of smocking (80's-90's) it is the fashion to have as many pleats as possible in our girl-child's basic yoke dress because we want more fullness to the skirt. We are still dealing with blocks or rectangles when we smock - unlike the push of change that occurred in women's fashions in the time period discussed in the history section.) The phrase ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 is heard a lot when referring to how many inches of fabric = inches of pleating, but I have gotten into trouble trying to figure out what exactly that meant - but of course I have a dyslexic spacial sense disability that sometimes makes doing things very difficult. Logically 36" of fabric would then = 12" of pleated fabric on a 3:1 ratio and that 45" of fabric = 9" of pleated fabric on a 4:1 ratio. If someone would like to explain this to me I would greatly appreciate it, as I have not found anything in my research materials. (I think too often we find out how to do something and then don't write down the process for others to understand.)
When we are working on a piece to be smocked the first thing to consider is how many pleats do you have pleated - most smocking design plates will tell you how many pleats a design is to be worked over. Unlike the gauge in knitting smocking is rather more like cross stitch in that you have to count how many pleats you have to work on before you get started smocking - if you have an extra pleat you can compensate by either grabbing more fabric on one side and making another pleat or else just let the extra one go and include it into your seam allowance. Sometimes on real simple geometric patterns the tendency is to just start on one end and smock to the other, but more often than not your left side doesn't match your right. In order to center your design, after you have finished your top row of cables or outline stitch, count how many pleats you have, find the center pleat and then begin your pattern smocking from there going to the end (usually it is a cable stitch which is much easier to start on instead of a section of a trellis or a wave, but if it's not then back up a few pleats to where you have a cable). Once you get to the end of the row, tee off turn your smocking upside down go back to the center and work the remainder of the row across, tee off and you have centered your design. You can then smock in the normal manner for the rest of the rows.
The object is to make the left side of a garment match the right side whether your smocking meets in the front or the back. Making both sides match is crucial to a garment looking perfect, it's just one of those little perfectionist details that makes a major difference. If you don't care then it doesn't matter but more than likely you will have one trellis starting right in the middle and ending at the top looking awkward and is noticeable. So why do it? Take the time to center your design, you'll be glad you did.
From our readers:
"I am kinda new at this and need to know the best way to join two pieces of fabric together. Is this done before or after the material is put through the smocking machine?"
It really depends on what you are smocking. If you are working on a bishop dress, then some say yes you construct your garment with tiny french seams before you run it through the pleater; other's swear by the sending individual pieces through the pleater one right after another carefully marking the pieces or else keeping them on the same pleating thread. Others will serge their seams together before pleating.
* * *
"Hi Beth: My daughter has just made her daughter a deep red velvet dress for Christmas using Simplicity 7809. I just saw the bib in Creative Needle. Having never made a bib before, do they come to the waist line? Do you think I could take the pinafore pattern (daughter's Simplicity pattern) without the skirt to make the bib? The smocking part on the pinafore blocking piece is approx. 9-1/2 x 3. The ties would probably be a little shorter too. Do you think this is a gamble or should I get Children's Corner's "Nancy" as in CN? Sandy in Colorful Colorado"
Sandy you can go ahead and use the pinafore pattern for making up the bib. You might measure to make sure that the bodice is long enough and matches her waist. I haven't seen the new Creative Needle yet to know how the bottom is finished but usually bibs have a ruffle attached to it and that is just a simple rectangle. The gathering ratio is 2 to 1.
* * *
"I just received my newsletter and was interested in the question about backsmocking. Your answer was very well done and gave quite a bit of helpful information......but left out a question she was asking. She wanted to know what stitch to use and I did not find that in your reply. I, too, wondered about that recently and asked several in my Guild. They mostly use a cable, but I read in Creative Needle that any stitch that makes each stitch "stand alone" is best to use, such as the stem stitch. That way, the pleats are not grouped in twos and the pleats will stand better and look nicer on the front. So that's what I use and have been very pleased with the results. DonCamp5"
Oopsey, I forgot to say that when you are backsmocking it depends on where you are smocking as to which stitch to use. If you are doing the back smocking on the top row to hold your pleats in place for sewing then it is really important to work the stem or outline stitch as your pleats are held together singly, they have a tendency to bend over when sewn down because they held in cable pairs. I will go into detail about back smocking in the next issue. You can really play with it making neat shadow patterns that become part of your design.
* * *
"Hello - just checked into your chat session this afternoon. Very interesting. Do you know how I can locate an area guild in the Boone, NC area? of the Kingport, TN area? travel with my work and am in both places allot at the present. I don't have a current issue of SAGA publication, they used to list area chapters. If you can head me in the right direction, I really would appreciate it. Sharon Allen, SAllen41@aol.com"
Sharon I suggest you check out SAGA's website or else one of the ladies that read the news would be so kind as to let us know.
* * *
"No self-respecting bee would be fooled into thinking that a muddy bear holding on to a balloon was actually a small black cloud -- even if someone was walking below, carrying and umbrella and saying, 'Tut-tut, it looks like rain.' " -- Eeyore
"There cannot be a crisis today; my schedule is already full."