June 4, 1997
Website: Garden Fairies Smocking & Needlearts Catalog
Welcome to the smocking newsletter from Garden Fairies Trading Company, my name is Beth-Katherine Kaiman. This first edition newsletter cames in two sections twice a week. The first issue of the week (numbered) is the newsletter and the additional issue (a) is for comments and questions which I hope you will feel free to send in. Please address all comments and questions to smockingstore@att.net. Also, please find listed at the end of this newsletter some of the books and patterns we carry that were mentioned in this newsletter, we also have available listings of our smocking plates, books and patterns as well as a fabric listing. Give us a try, we're user friendly.
Smocking Newsletter - Beth-Katherine Kaiman, copyright@1997-2007, all rights reserved
In This Issue:
From our Readers
Smocking History
Beginner's Corner
Smocking Stitches
From Our Readers:
"Someone asked about removing blood. From quilting I have learned that your own saliva is the best thing. But the blood & the saliva must come from the same person. Works even on dried bloodstains. Natalie" LOL I think everyone loved the cat story . . .
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When you are removing your own blood, your saliva will dissolve it. If the material will water spot, wet a thread with spit and sew in and out of the spot until it is gone. If the material doesn't waterspot, just dab a little spit on the blood anyway you want. Claire Shaeffer
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"In response to the person asking about creating your own plate to match her paper doll fabric. There is a Pat Garretson plate (I think its her anyway) that has the back of a girl hanging laundry on the line........then several items of clothing hanging on the clothes line as well.......it would probably suffice if she didn't really want to create her own plate.
OR I like using the Debbie Glenn Design Kit for plates if she "really" wants to delve in and design her own. I'll look through my old smocking plates tonight to see if I can come up with the actual name of the Garretson plate so she can at least see it. There is also a plate with paper type dolls on it as well but no "real" faces. VRows"
This design kit must be new I haven't heard of it. - Beth
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Sewing Machine comments:
"I have a Viking and love it. I would purchase another one in a second. Because of the new Viking "Rose", there are many previously owned machines which are in great shape for sale through dealers. I bought an 1100 this way and have never regretted it. Despite Bernina's reputation, I think that you get more features for your money with a Viking. I couldn't have gotten an alphabet, etc, on a Bernina for what I paid for my Viking. My Mom has a Bernina. I've sewed on it and it's nice, but for the difference in price, I would still buy Viking. If you like to do lots of lace, the walking foot on the Pfaff is wonderful, according to a friend of mine who has one. Pedalwerke"
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"Was reading in Issue 8A about restoring white color in old clothing. One of the ladies in our smocking group, LadySlipper Needle Arts gave a demonstration and used equal parts of Snowy Laundry Soap and a clear dishwashing soap. I use Palmolive because it was the cheapest one in the grocery store. Don't use the Ultra concentrated versions, too many suds. I had several pieces of lace and many doilies, and my great-grandmas wedding outfit. I soaked them in ice cream buckets of very warm water and 1/4 of each of the Snowy and Palmolive. It took many times of course, but they are very nice looking. To cut the soap in the items I rinsed them in lemon juice and cool water and then ended up with just cool water. Very Carefully put them on padded hangers outside to dry on the clothesline. Works very nicely, smells good and is readily available. Brought them for show and tell at the next meeting after the demo and everyone was impressed. Sue"
This week we are very fortunate to have a contribution from Judith Brandau on "Smocking On A Brick". Synchronistically I was going to write on this very subject when Judith volunteered her information, and being that she's had first hand experience I bowed to her expertise.
The hotel bellboy looked at me with a little annoyance.
"Lady, your bags are HEAVY. What do you have packed in there, bricks?"
"Yes," I replied. "Two. You can't have them."
The exchange above really occurred. I was booking in at the hotel site of a smocking convention in Atlanta. I truly had packed two bricks in my suitcase. They were for teaching "Australian Smocking on a Brick", a technique I had learned from my students when I visited the "Land Down Under".
Australian Smocking on a Brick was born of a disenchantment with the British technique of counting threads in order to hand pleat fabric for smocking. Some enterprising Australian realized that a brick could act very much like a sewing bird or a weighted "third hand". If this weighted fabric were pleated at the top, then stretched, well KANGAS, The pleating problem was solved! Today the Aussies use pleaters to prepare their fabric for picture smocking. But, smocking on a brick continues to hold potential for gingham, tartan, stripes, bridal satin and other fabrics that do not perform well to pleater manipulation.
The basic tools for smocking on a brick are #1, an ordinary house brick and #2, a thin, steel, knitting needle. The brick is heavily padded with two or three layers of quilt batting. Then a heavy cotton cover is stitched in place to hold everything securely. I have found that striped mattress ticking is a good choice for the cover. The stripes help a smocker gauge her tension and help keep the stitch pattern even. It is important that the cover fit tightly around the brick. My first brick had a cover that was so loose, it would sometimes slip when I was stitching.
Gingham is a good choice for fabric when you smock your first project using this technique. Pick a row of checks about 3/4" down from the top and run the knitting needle in and out of the fabric across the entire width. Done properly, you will have a gathered fabric on the needle with all white pleats on one side and all colored pleats on the other side. Use heavy tailoring pins or quilting pins to pin the pleated fabric to the brick. Place these pins in that 3/4" seam allowance you have at the top of the knitting needle. Set your brick on a table in front of you.
Stitching in the Australian Smocking on a Brick technique is generally done by eye. When working on fabrics other than gingham, I will often draw horizontal lines with a no. 2 pencil onto the fabric to help me gauge spacing. These lines are drawn before I pleat the fabric with the knitting needle. These lines are similar to gathering threads in English smocking for telling you how to space your stitches. Pencil and other water soluble markers mar certain specialty fabrics, however. For these fabrics, you stitch entirely by eye. It can be done. I saw several excellent examples worked by Australian masters.
Many of the examples of "brick smocking" that I saw in Australia, used four strands of floss instead of the normal three. Three strands can be used. But, four strands tend to cover Australian smocking's deeper pleats better. Stitching begins in the upper left hand corner, working its way across the yard goods. Brick smocking designs tend to be small, geometric, repeating patterns although this is not a rule. When a design needs to be centered, the common technique of counting inwards from the edges with pins is done. To smock half a row and then flip the work up-side-down to complete the left-hand portion of the smocking is uncomfortable. To do that, you must pull the fabric AWAY from you as you stitch. Some smockers find it easier to work out the centering on paper first. Then they stitch the first row by starting in the left hand corner following their chart.
To stitch, pull the fabric toward you with your left hand until it is taut. Pleats will form. Stitch these pleats with your right hand. Left handed smockers pull the fabric with their right hand and stitch with their left. They begin their stitching in the upper, right hand corner. The stitches used for brick smocking are the same as for English Smocking. The designs are often the same, too. As the smocking progresses, move the brick farther from you, pushing it across the table. Taking the knitting needle out of the fabric for repositioning at other spots is not done because these needles leave large holes in the fabric.
While I do not expect Australian smocking on a brick to do away with the pleater, I do see use for the techniques. When pleating tartan in a pleater, the vertical colors often form an unattractive, irregular repeat. With smocking on a brick, the exact color repeats that you desire can be accommodated by making pleats of different depths with the knitting needle. Striped fabric can be pleated the same way. One of my daughter's all-time favorite smocked dresses was a red and white oxford cloth which I pleated and smocked using these methods. Do try these skills for yourself. They make for interesting stitching."
SMOCKING STITCHES: Vertical Smocking
Since Judith so kindly stretched our imaginations already I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth as well. We have been working our smocking across a horizontal plane with the pleats going vertical. This is all well and fine if you are going to make an insert for an area that is a maximum of 9" wide but what if you want to work an area that is larger. You may or may not of heard of sending your fabric through the pleater twice, a topic which we will broach upon in a later issue, but I want you to do a 90' shift in your thinking.
Instead of always working your smocking horizontal across pleats try thinking of them vertically. You just turn your pleated piece 90' so the pleats are horizontal. Now look at them and visualize the smocking going up and down them. Wow a whole new world to experiment in!
Now you can pleat 9" width of your panel but you can make it as long as you like. This works real well inserted into the center panel of a princess line dress or in two sections across the chest making up a smocked bodice for an adult or larger child.
I have seen vertical smocking on the above mentioned princess line wedding dresses or formals, on a tuxedo shirt, a T-Dress and a pillow. Smocking different patterns vertically can be challenging at first because you have a whole new look to work with. One of the prettiest examples I have seen is in issue #17 of Australian Smocking. The princess dress was a contest winner (haven't seen it re-appear yet) with the central panel in vertical smocking but it was covered in bullion roses and bullions leaves done horizontally on top of the smocked panel. The grid itself was seven cables, 17 evenly spaced trellis, seven cables in groups of two with a space of about seven pleats in between each. This pattern was repeated after four rows. After the grid was smocked then the piece was turned to 'normal' and the embroidery was done. Simply gorgeous. My picky 12yr old said "YEAH! Do that for me." (High praise indeed as we with older girls know).
I have to thank Jean for this addition to the newsletter. I've had some questions about smocking for dolls in the past couple of months and have finally gotten around to them. I do apologize for the delay but here is a wonderful summary of an article in Creative Needle.
"Beth, Here is my summary. Keep in mind I haven't done anything like this since college!! Hope I haven't plagiarized (sp)! I don't think I have, and I have given proper credit, where it is due. Hope the readers will enjoy! I have proof-read, but very well could have missed errors.
Fondly, Jean
Summary of article "Smocking in Miniature" by Carol Clements, Creative Needle, Jan./Feb. 1996, pp. 28-30.
Smocking for Dolls
There are smocking plates available specifically for dolls, in fact they are becoming more and more popular. But what do you do when you want to use a standard plate design for a doll, to make matching child/doll dresses? This is the dilemma I am running into. I am a fairly new smocker and certainly not able to draft my own picture smocking plates. Geometric, sure...but NOT pictures! I found this article by Carol Clements to be helpful and am always searching for more information on how to miniaturize standard plates.
For starters, pleat a sample piece of fabric (or two!) so that you can practice the design. It should be pleated using half space rows. Each half space row will equal approximately one full spaced row. This will, of course, shorten your design. The width is more of a problem (or shall I say challenge) to make narrower. It is generally a standard measurement. Suggestions I have are to try pushing your pleats together a bit closer than you normally might, and use a bit tighter tension. You may also wish to pleat a lighter weight of fabric that matches, for example if you are smocking broadcloth for child, use batiste for doll. These "tactics" seem to be working out pretty well for me on the design I am currently working on.
Ms. Clements suggests that when doing trellis rows that they be porportionally reduced. That is to say that one should use a two step trellis in place of a four step trellis. Odd numbered trellis steps should remain add and even steps should remain even. This would mean simply dividing numbers in half for geometrics and borders, she states.
Stacking cables for the picture is more demanding. One may need to eliminate horizontal rows or vertical stitches, if necessary to produce the correct gauge. Ms. Clements writes that symmetrical designs are generally easier to reduce than the asymmetrical. For example: reducing a simple square shape is easier than doing the shape of an animal.
On surface embroidery she goes on to say that french knots can be done successfully by simply reducing strands of thread to one, two if necessary. Bouillons are difficult to reduce and still keep them neat looking. Ms. Clements suggests replacing them with two strand flowerettes. She also feels that if you truly enjoy the look of boullions to use them anyway. Because they are so beautiful, admirers probably won't realize that they are a bit out of proportion.
In closing, she finishes by saying that practice and patience are the keys. She suggests using only parts of standard plates (such as designs in a border) versus trying to reduce everything in the plate. The completed piece should not be too overwhelming!
After investigating I have found several "baby" designs that would be quite suitable for dolls and could be enlarged (ah...another "task") to match for a little girl. Kathy Crisp Designs and Ellen McCarn are just two, of I'm sure many, designers who have small designs suitable for our dollies.
References:
Creative Needle, Jan./Feb. 1996
Picture Smocking with Ellen McCarn by Ellen McCarn. Copyright 1990
Kathy Crisp Designs (editors note - very few of her smocking plates are available)
"Anybody who tells you that getting thin takes "about a week" is lying." -- Winnie the Pooh