e-Mail: smockingstore@att.net
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
A question as to where to send completed garments for consignment
Calling all left-handed smockers and teachers of left-handers
More Questions about the Pleater Board and a query about a smocking guild in Kansas
Is it really volume 2!! I can't begin to thank you and all the other smockers and sewers who have worked so hard to produce a fabulous resource!
To those of us who have few smockers or even sewers in our home cities and towns, this has been a blessing. I love the articles, questions and answers and of course, the chats (when I can make it!). When I really have been a little afraid of cutting that expensive fabric, or not sure of instructions or just had a question, it's been good to know all of you are around! Judi
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Dear Beth-Katherine,
Thanks for all the news letters. It is so nice to have all the infos you provide. and also nice to know that so many peoples have the same interest in smocking as me. i has been given a pattern for a coat hanger which reads "begin at the center on row 2 with an under cable... can you please help me, I don't know what an under cable is. Thanks a lot for all your hard work. jackie in south Africa.
Dear Jackie,
In answer to your first question the under cable is also known as a down cable. In the cable stitch there are up cables and down cables, this is the natural flow of the stitch. If you look at my stitches dictionary on my website (soon to have more images) you will see what and up cable is and a down cable is.
Your pattern reads: "begin at the center on row 2 with an under cable..." What the directions is telling you to do is to count your pleats and find the center two pleats of row two and start your smocking with a down cable as the first stitch. Then continue smocking along the row to the end and tie off. (I would come back and tie an overhand loop around that stitch with a piece of contrasting floss so you will be able to find center easily.)
Then you turn your piece 180' and come back to the middle where your first down cable is now an up cable (see it?) and come up in the valley between the two pleats which make up your first cable stitch and make a down cable and continue along the row.
Why do this? The reason the smocking designer has you do this is to make certain that the central cable is a down one so that the rest of the pattern can be centered (I am assuming that the next row is started in the same manner?), due to the variances of pleaters and weights of fabrics you can't be certain of how many pleats will be pleated for the same amount of fabric.
Another alternative way I have seen stated on design plates is that the design in worked over a set number of pleats and we are left with the task of counting the number of pleats within the design and work only on those pleats leaving sometimes a wider seam allowance on one side.
Centering your design is important, we don't always like to do it but it's important especially on bishop dresses to make sure that the left side matches the right side. I'm not always the perfectionist but there are times when a design isn't centered that it bugs me, so the best way is to make it a habit to find your center pleat and follow the directions.
Also I think the new bishop closure as featured in the latest Creative Needle is a wonderful innovation. It has the whole back smocked and the opening is on the left back sleeve instead of the center back. It will take a bit of thinking through to do this but once you get the concept I think it's going to be the wave of the future in bishop closures. So nice to see a whole back smocked with out any breaks.
Hope this helps, Beth-katherine
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Chery Williams Basic Yoke for Infants:
Beth,
I made my one year old daughter a "baby yoke" dress from CW and the front is longer than the back. I have made this dress several times without problems and can't figure out what went wrong. The bodice front(which is smocked) is perfectly even with the back bodice, the skirt edge was torn so that the selvages were even before I hemmed it and the hem is even all the way around(I checked it with a hem gage). I absolutely can't figure it out. please let me know if you have any suggestions! Sarah Wunderlich
Sarah this pattern I have been told was drafted wrong. I think it's the old dip problem but as I haven't made up this pattern I'm not sure. Anyone out there have experience with this pattern and know the solution to the problem?
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Beth,
You should note that the Love 'n Stitches patterns run about a size too small, even in the women's sizes. Ginny
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Hi Beth
I was surprised to see myself in 'print'! Thought I'd better correct one little slip of your finger - I live in NEW ZEALAND not Australia (rather like saying the US is in Canada!!!!!)
Re blocking and steaming. I agree with you that a wet cloth and ordinary iron can do the work - as long as the iron is not actually put down on the cloth - otherwise the pleats might get squashed. If I am in a hurry and don't have the time to wait for the 'blocked' piece to dry (which I find is 99% of the time) I block the smocked piece to size, utilize a spray bottle filled with water and spray the smocking THEN use my hairdrier on high speed to dry the whole thing off - making sure the drier is not close enough to scorch the material. Works like a charm setting the pleating in place, and off to the sewing machine or whatever.
Do hope your move went like a knife in butter and you are settled in snugly in your new cave. Have a happy new year. Valda
Thanks for the good wishes and the wonderful tip, actually my move took longer than I expected as I and a girlfriend were the only ones moving boxes and furniture. It took about 10 days of shoving and hauling. How I envy you gals with husbands and sons.
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A question as to where to send completed garments for consignment:
I LOVED YOUR NEWSLETTER!!!!!!!! I look forward to receiving the next issue. Being new to the art of smocking, articles on the fine points to make my projects look more "professional" and perhaps a marketplace for completed projects. Thank you so much for your hard work. Mae Belle
Dear Mae,
Thank you for your kind words, I work hard to bring these newsletters into being. As for a marketplace in which to show your completed projects for sale I suggest that you get in touch with Barbara Foote, Smockingrm@aol.com, she has a consignment shop in Bay Village, OH which has a reputation for selling fine smocked garments.
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Calling all left-handed smockers and teachers of left-handers:
Years ago I taught a left-handed young woman how to smock by sitting ACROSS from her (Like a mirror image). I don't know how it would work if you held a mirror to a page from a book (illustration). Martha
Dear Martha,
Thank you for answering my query on the boards. For those of you who did not read it I'm looking for ways to help left-handed smockers perfect their craft. Any suggestions besides Sandy Hunter's Photo Book of Smocking Stitches for Left Handed People?
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Hi Beth,
I've sat down more than once to write and then get distracted by my 4 year old - enough said! Everytime I see a question or a comment in the newsletter about keeping a bishop shaped to smock it, etc. I think of my smocking board. I learned to smock on it and it is great for bishops, yokes, inserts, etc.. It has neck sizes measured out on it and inches for the yokes. I just pin my dress down to size, tie off my threads and start smocking. I block it on the board and remove it when I'm ready to sew. I find it to be a really helpful tool and I don't know how I would do a bishop without it. Evelyn Wheeler
Yes Evelyn that is a wonderful tool but I use something that I like much better. It's called the Heirloom Stitcher's Shape and Press with Bishop and Collar Guide by June Taylor. I got one for the shop and started using it. It's wonderful. One side has a neckline guide and the other has shapes printed for lace shaping as well as scallops in various widths (no more drawing them out.) It's a wonderful tool. It's stuffed with foam so you can stick pins into it and is the same fabric that they use on ironing board covers so you can safely press and steam on it, there is a ruled grid on both sides for convenience. It's worth the price of $40 as it's big enough to fit a whole dress on it 14" x 20"( unlike the smocking board which is only 17" wide) and it's not so heavy (being made of cork and wood). I use both sides frequently for smocking and lace shaping projects. I love the lace shaping side as each shape, heart/teardrop/diamond has several sizes built into it for your different projects. The loops of lace shaping pattern is 6" high with the loops evenly drawn out (no more crooked loops) and there are four widths of scallops 3"/4"/5"/6" spread across 20" so you can shape whole panels at a time. These are available through my company. E-mail me if you are interested in acquiring one. Oh and I forgot there is a loop on one end so you can hang it up on the wall of your sewing room out of the way of your projects.
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More Questions about the Pleater Board and a query about a smocking guild in Kansas:
Hi Beth,
I want to thank you again for producing the wonderful newsletters! I haven't been able to read them all but I did print them up and am leisurely reading them. I've noticed an ad in the magazines for a smocking board... usually cost about $30. How do they work and is it worth investing in it? Do you pin the item that is to be smocked on it and do the smocking while it's still pinned to it? How is that possible if I need to come up from the back of the material? And, is there a smocking guild close to Manhattan, Kansas? Thank you for your precious time! Renee Carlyle
There are many ladies who swear by the smocking board using it to hold their pleated piece while they are smocking. For me I found this terribly awkward as the board was always slipping off of my lap and I never could get comfortable holding the board (tried holding it on my knees, foot kept slipping plus my hands went numb with the struggle), so I ended up just using the board for arranging my pleats and steaming them in. That was before the June Taylor's Smock and Shape board became available - see above letter and comments.
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Beth, Could use your advice. I pleated a light batiste, twice and have these extra little pleats even though I put it through the pleater very slowly and had what I though was good tension. I even starched the material twice. Is it my needles or what am I doing wrong? I tried to look it up in my pleating manual ( by Sarah Douglas?) and didn't really find anything. Any suggestions would help. Barbara
Barbara that is the nature of the fabric, there is nothing you can do with it except smock it. I had the same trouble but I was planning to smock Silent Mice by Little Memories on an expensive piece of embroidered Swiss edging (following directions by Lou Anne Lamar's pattern) and was greatly disappointed that the pleats were so tiny and there wasn't enough of the expensive edging to go around the neck so I had to cut another piece adding 15" (surely 75" was enough) and try again and still there wasn't enough.
What are you working on? Will it make a difference? Beth
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I am having a little problem with this pattern. It says to cut a piece of material 11" by 26" for the front of the dress, but I can't find any reference for it in the instructions. There is of course a pattern piece for the front. Can you help me? Thanks Betty
Betty I think what is going on is the piece 11" x 26" is the skirt of the dress which is to be pleated and smocked. The other piece is the bodice yoke which the skirt is attached to. It's standard procedure with these patterns, unlike the major pattern companies, not to include a rectangle pattern piece for the skirt when it's so simple to just say "Cut a piece 11" x 26". It's confusing to us who are used to having every pattern piece drawn out but it makes sense to save paper and not include a pattern piece for a rectangle. I'm assuming there is the same directions for the back of the dress. Beth
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Picture smocking and 24-row pleaters
Please continue to have me on your e-mail list for your newsletter! I've printed and read 3 of your newsletters so far and have absolutely loved them! I am anxious to print up the rest and read them! Thank you for such a wonderful service! I also have the 24-thread pleater and when I started to do picture smocking, I didn't understand why I couldn't space the stitches out very well and cover the material at the same time. It is such a relief to know that the 24-thread spaces are a tad-bit larger than the 16-thread pleater rows. I am also wondering if it would be advisable to use 5 strands of floss in this case, or would that be too bulky of a stitch? I am one to need the rows for guidance.
Ah this is such a tricky point, so many of the smocking plates were designed with the 16-row pleater in mind and those of us who have 24row pleaters are always questioning how to make our pictures perfect. I think your idea of using 5 strands of floss is an excellent one. It would add just the right amount to compensate for the difference in spacing of the pleaters. Of course experiment and see if it looks ok, but I think it will do the trick. If anyone has any other suggestions please send them in.
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Praise
Beth,
I thought the tips and explanations you gave in the newsletters were very easy to follow and to understand. You have always explained why you do things in a particular way. You don't always get that. I used your newsletter "tidbits" to teach my basic smocking program at our last guild meeting. We spent the entire hour on basic pleater instructions, and I only used your notes. Of course we had much discussion on various other techniques that other members use, but still, there were not many. I think everybody got quite a bit out of it.
The history of smocking that you have given along with each basic stitch is very interesting, and the order in which you have presented each lesson is so very logical. And again, Your reasons for presenting them in this particular order makes it easier to understand how to do the stitches. It's because you state why you are doing this stitch at this particular time that makes it so logical.
I hope this makes sense. Thanks again for allowing me to use your information from your newsletters. The source is mentioned in the bibliography of my notes and your website has been published in the newsletter.
Georgina
P.S. I forgot to mention the project we are working on to learn basic smocking stitches. We will be making a sampler, but students will have a choice of inserting it in a soft fabric belt. A change from a square framed sampler.
Georgina, thank you for the praise. After the couple of weeks that I have had I really appreciated finding your e-mail in my box. It bouyed up my spirits tremendously. You should check out Diana Keays Book of Smocking or Smocks and Smocking by Beverly Marshall (both reviewed on my website). Both of these ladies spent a lot of time researching the history of smocking and I used them as references in current history but a lot of the smocking history is buried in obscurity which is something that I love to try and find out. Maybe I should call on Shirley McClaine and see if we can connect with some 13th century embroideresses? What a hoot, intriguing but it sure would be nice to be able to hop into a time machine and travel back to have a looksee?
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I would love to receive your smocking newsletter! I am desperately trying to learn to smock, however there are no smocking stores in my area. If you have a suggestion on a good book for the beginning smocker please let me know. I want to smock for my daughter's 15" Bitty Baby doll, and all of our 18" AG dolls, plus I have a new granddaughter to make pretty things for! Thank you for any help you can offer. Jan
Jan I would recommend either Ellen McCarn's On English Smocking or Grace Knott's English Smocking. Both of these books are excellent. Ellen's book has illustrations detailing the smocking stitches and some plates, both picture and geometric. Grace's book have some beautiful geometric smocking designs along with good instructions. You can read my reviews on my website in the book section. There are also a couple of new booklets for smocking doll clothes out one is by Cherished Stitches with petite picture smocking designs and the other is a booklet by Debbie Glenn. (see the end of the newsletter for prices).
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Here is a wonderful comment from one of our new readers who took the time to answer my survey that I now send out with the newsletters:
What do you like the most (about smocking)?
I love how you can completely shut out the world, TV, Phone, etc and create something beautiful and yet at the same time get completly lost in your thoughts. I'm sure, the was one of the ways how women survived hard times years ago.
Yeah that's exactly how I feel. I start out stressed about something that has happened and within a few minutes I'm calm and peaceful and everything looks rose, (albeit a bit enlarged with the magnifier glasses on).
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Book-stealers curse from the 13th century:
"For him that steals, or borrows and returns not, a book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw at his entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not. And when he goes at last to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever."
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