November 9, 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.
"Dear Beth,
Thanks for the latest edition of your smocking newsletter. I want to add one comment to your excellent discussion of picture smocking. When I began picture smocking I had a terrible time with my pictures coming out very distorted and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong until a wise woman pointed out to me that I wasn't doing anything wrong-I was using a Stanley pleater and the rows are wider than the other brands so when I tried to make them fit they became distorted.. Now I start at the center of the design and work out, ignoring the pleating rows on the plate and it's fine. That small piece of advice made a world of difference to me in learning to love picture smocking almost as much as traditional smocking. Keep up the good work with the newsletter-I look forward to each new issue!! Rita"
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Full bodice smocking and construction
"Dear Beth, I just started getting your newsletter on-line. I read your questionnaire and to sum up all the questions in one I would say that I'm hungry to know any thing/everything right now but may have some specific suggestions as time passes. My smocking knowledge is not extensive but I love doing it. The questions I have right now and what I would most like to learn more about are construction tips
"One specific question I have - I am starting my first dress smocked to the shoulder. I know I have to mark the bodice pattern piece on the smocked section and then cut it out but I'm hesitant to do that, thinking that the smocking will unravel. The only directions I've seen say to stitch around on the marked pattern line before cutting out. Is that enough? How short should the stitch length be? Do I need to do anything else like use some fusible stabilizer or serge the edge or cover it with Fray-check? If I go through 20 rows of smocking and it comes apart at the neckline I'll shoot myself! Any tips on how to accomplish this will be appreciated. Thanks for a great newsletter! Ellen Herwig."
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Dear Ellen,
First you block your smocking, then mark around the pattern piece with a water-soluble pen (oh, and don't do this before you steam in your smocking otherwise the mark will be permanent). Then using a tiny zigzag stitch stay stitching around the outline of the pattern piece. Cut out and then complete the sewing of the dress. These instructions are universal amongst all of the directions I read. To be safe I would serge the edge. Sometimes I have seen ladies who are aware of where the pattern piece outline is going to be and end their smocking just after and tie off. That way you don't have any fear of threads coming apart, but with all of these precautions I'm sure it will be fine.
What are you making? Beth
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"Gosh that was a fast reply!! Thanks. I'm making a christening gown (just for kicks, my oldest child is in high school and hopefully won't need one of those for a lo-o-o-ong time!) with a pattern from "Australian Smocking and Embroidery", changed around a bit to suit my creative desire to do a lace scallop hem. I have recently moved to South Carolina and have taken a year off from working as a nurse to sew and teach quilting classes. With luck I may generate enough $ to just keep sewing and only work part-time. Networking thru websites and things like your newsletter very helpful to me, especially when I haven't met many people. I'll try the narrow zigzag since I've already done the top 4 rows of smocking but will try the suggestion about marking the pattern and then smocking only within the lines next time. Thanks again. -Ellen H."
I let Ellen know that I meant to smock just past the lines and tie off for extra assurance that the floss wasn't going to come undone.
Free Pattern for a Preemie Bishop:
COME TO MY PAGE FOR A FREE PREEMIE BABY GOWN AND BONNET PATTERN http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/5183/
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Smocking for Little Boys Question:
Dear Dabney,
I will most definitely do a section on smocking for boys in issue 17, haven't covered that topic as of yet. Also take a look at the enhanced segment on my website for issue 16 or rather Issue 1 of The Gathering Thread, I found a whole bunch of illustrations from children's books from the 1920's with little boys in smocks. I know that the style is not fashionable right now but if you think about it the little boy's rompers that are shown in Sew Beautiful and Creative Needle were fashionable during the 1920's and 30's. Take about being with the times.
The main thing to remember is that if you catch them soon enough little boys like pretty things as much as little girls, and to be certain not to disway (sp) them from expressing their likes and dislikes. I know that at a certain age at school all the other boys will get on your son about his clothing if he's wearing something different than T-shirts and jeans, peer pressure is more strong on boys than girls at age 6 or 7, but you can safely dress him with smocking until then. After that it's pjs.
Another thought, last Friday night we had Mary Frase (formerly of Mary's Nifty Needle - the biggest smocking distributor in the world) give us a chat about smocking and stuff. Dear Mary has cancer and has been given the usual doctor's rap about how few months she has left (but that was 2 years ago), but the most important piece of advice that she gave that hit us all was that no matter if you have children or not to smock for, sometime in the future there will be a child who will absolutely adore it that you took the time to smock for them. This really hit home with me as my DD is 13 and refusing to wear smocking anymore.
Ok enough for now and thank you for letting me know what you would like to know about.
Beth-Katherine
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"The question about pricing must have come when I couldn't be here for the Fri. chat. I will have to go back and read those chat logs again. Anyway, I do have some opinions on the subject.
I have found that I have to take into consideration the materials in each dress. This means fabrics AND laces, at retail, even if they were bought at discount.
Then I have to consider the design elements: smocking ($25-50), lace shaping ($25 per motif ), pintucking ($25 per 45" wide panel--about 10" length), shadow work embroidery ($25 per motif), silk ribbon embroidery($25 per motif), inside scalloped hem with embroidery ($25 per panel), and so on. Basic construction begins at $65 to cover the tracing of patterns (after measuring the child), cutting out fabric, and the actual sewing. Your article mentioned that each row of smocking should cost $3-$3.50 per row. Golly, if I charged that, then the full bodice smocked dresses would be $72 and $81 just for the smocking. My customer balked at $65 apiece (she bought the fabric).
I think that after all the numbers have been added up, it is necessary to take a realistic look at the dress and the price that it has come to. If indeed it is a work of art (and I would never dispute that) and deserves to be sold at $300.00, then so be it. Don't expect it to go out the door immediately. If it cannot be considered a museum piece and must be sold in order to recoup expenses, then price it so that materials and a good portion of time (maybe 75%) have been covered. Your article also mentioned the lady selling her dresses wholesale at $85.00 each. Too bad she isn't getting more of the retail price. Gotta go. Later. Barbara Foote"
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read the newsletters. I really appreciate the feedback.
Note to all of the readers who sew for a living: Barbara Foote, has a smocking co-op and consignment shop in Bay Village, Ohio and is always looking for items to put into her shop and ladies to smock for her. (I am personally working on some items and when I'm finished I'll send them to her.) She has a large cliental of customers who are used to buying the finest. If you are interested in making some extra money with your smocking let me know and I'll pass your name onto to her and she can get in contact with you.
Review of Smocking Video:
I had asked Virginia to review the video since she has a copy. Mind you this was filmed in 1991, a lot of improvements in the teaching of smocking have happened in 6 years. Please read her comments carefully. Dawn also has other videos. We just wanted you to know about the videos as some of you had asked about them.
Dear Beth: Here is the review of Dawn Brachey's Smocking Video.
"Smocking with Dawn Brachey of My Sewing Place" (Phone 1-800-545-9747) Copyright 1991, shows the basic stitches and stacking cables. There is a section on construction of a bishop and bonnet and how to set in an inset into a dress. There are 2 video tapes (part 1 and 2) in this selection. It runs for 3.5 hours. Ms Brachey also demonstrates how to pleat fabric to prepare for smocking.
At the beginning of the video Ms Brachey shows a variety of garments, then demonstrates how to do the stitches, an outline stitch, cable, baby wave, and trellis. She shows how to center a design and shows some embroidery stitches - the lazy daisy, bouillon and French knot. There is also a demonstration on how to block a smocked garment.
Like many sewing techniques, there is no one right way. I am reminded of a saying that Elizabeth Travis Johnson includes in her classes. She says there is more than one way to kill a dog besides choking him with buttermilk. Ms. Brachey's techniques and mine are like vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Both are good, but both are different.
Some of the ways we vary include, pleating a garment, application of the bias band on a bishop and the greatest difference is the cable and stacking stitch. If one reads how-to-smock books there are many recommendations on how to smock. Sandy Hunter's book from 1987 is one of the oldest references that I have in my library.
Pleating - I had to re-watch this section several times before I figured out what was so unusual about it. Ms. Brachey stands behind the pleater and rolls the fabric over the needles and away from her. I can't figure out how it stays on grain that way. She also has her pleater mounted on a board with the quilting thread spools on the far end, the pleater with the needles facing the quilting thread spools in the middle and she stands at the opposite end and turns the crank with her left hand, toward herself. On the other hand, every book on pleating I have read, including Sarah Douglas' book, The Pleater Manual, copyright 1983 and revised in 1993, mention this position as awkward, since the human arm is not hinged this way. Ms. Douglas mentions that pleating from the gear side is helpful when pleating stripes, plaids or checks, but for the remainder of pleating, she advocates pleating from the needle side, rather than from the gear side of the pleater.
One of my major differences with Ms. Brachey's techniques is in the area of construction. When she applies the bias band to the neck edge, she aligns with the cable stitch on the first row of smocking. Doing it this way, causes gaps and when her bishops are viewed, it is apparent that there is some fabric showing between the stitching and the bias band. There are several ways to address this problem. One of my favorite ways to do this is to do a stem or outline stitch on the back of the dress, using one or two strands of floss, on the first pleated row. This results in a straight line to use as a guide instead of the up and down look of a cable row. I align my bias piece either on this line, particularly when I am putting lace around the bias band. If the bias is placed between the first row (the outline stitched row) and the first cable row on the front, the lace sometimes covers the first row of smocking. If I am not going to put lace around the bias piece, I align my bias piece between the outline stitched first row and the first smocked row on the front. This method is more forgiving of a little slipping in the construction. If the strip moves a fraction of an inch either way, there is no concern about fabric showing above the first row, since the entire band is attached above the first smocked row on the front. Also, by having the outline stitch on the back of the dress, it can be used as a guide to attach the bias piece and the bias piece will be applied smoothly.
The other major difference I have with Ms. Brachey is her recommendation on how to stitch a cable stitch. She recommends to pick up the top 1/3 of the pleat. This uses much less thread. Even if you are on a tight budget, floss is only 19 cents a skein on sale. Even though I use floche or silk to smock, I would rather go deeper in the pleats, use more thread, pay a little extra for supplies and have a "fat" cable. When stacking, the fatter cable results in a much better looking picture. Look at some of Gwen Milner's plates and smocking. She also goes deep into her pleats. The most common recommendation that I could find, suggests going 2/3 into the pleat. Now this is a very small piece of fabric and I've never measured, but that is probably what I do. Sometimes, if the fabric and floss are very pastel, I will go all the way down to the pleater thread. I would caution the smocker about this method. You really have to be careful to watch the pleater thread or it could get caught in your stitches and be harder to remove at the end.
The other thing Ms. Brachey's video recommends that I disagree with is her instructions about stitching a row of cable stitches. She recommends placing the needle just above the pleating thread for a up cable and just below the gathering thread for a down cable. That is the reason that you see fabric showing between her pleats. The fabric gets caught when the row is stitched. Fabric showing between the cable row is probably the biggest no-no in smocking. If the pleater thread is used as a guide, I suggest that the gathering thread should be used whether the stitch is above or below the gathering row. If the needle is placed just on top of the gathering row thread on all stitches (up and down cables), pulled parallel until the stitch is laid on the pleat and then the thread is pulled either slightly up or down, there will be no fabric caught between the cables and the stitches on top of the pleats will have their 3 or 4 threads laying perfectly perpendicular to the pleat. When stacking, if the first stitch on the row being worked is an up cable and the stitch below is a down cable, I suggest placing a needle just above the down cable, facing to the left. This gives just the right space to be left when the up stitch is done on the row above. The up cable has no guide to use unless it is stitched on top of a gathering row. When the second stitch is done on this row (a down cable) it will meet the up cable from the previous row perfectly, making a stack of 6 or 8 perfectly laid threads, resulting in the "fat" smocking that looks so perfect.
If a smocker is considering purchasing Ms. Brachey's video, you might want to consider seeing if you can rent or borrow it from your favorite needlework shop or sharing the cost with several friends and sharing the tape. The group could even rent it out to others interested in viewing it. The video has many good portions. Ms. Brachey is a lovely lady from the south and her presentation is easy to watch and listen to. If the viewer is aware that this is just one presentation on technique and that there are alternatives to Ms. Brachey's methods, it might be worth viewing. I would caution the viewer not to believe that this was the absolute final authority on smocking. (Everyone knows that I am that person - just kidding)"
Submitted by Virginia Perry, owner of The Perry Patch, which produces the clothing that children wear when memories are made.
Pleater Question: Do you have any suggestions as to which pleaters are best? Thanks.
The best pleaters right now are the Amanda Janes, either a 16row or 24row, depending on what you are going to smock, due to their dependability and availability of original needles. I spent a lot of time and thought detailing out the information about pleaters in the notions section of my website. For expediency sake I'm going to ask that you go there and read the information. If you still have some questions just drop me a line and I'll get right back to you. Oh and when you buy a pleater I pay the shipping.
"Just when you think no one has taken any notice of your birthday, here come two friends with an empty honey pot and a broken balloon." -- Eeyore