6/25/98
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.
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Smocking Pleaters - an addendum to the list. Oh and ladies please feel free to write in your experiences with the different pleaters so that we all can share in your experiences.My first addendum to the list of pleaters that are out there, floating around without needles, is the Durand 24row pleater. One of the beginning minds in this phase of the smocking craze.
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And now from our Readers (some of these questions came over the smocking list):
In a message dated 4/16/99 3:38:49 PM, Grammysjf writes:
Hi Beth I am a fairly new smocker, I have made several things for my granddaughter and am looking forward to making many more. My question, I'm getting ready to make Cherry Williams's bishop dress, I m nervous about sewing seams and putting them though pleater, however please tell me about 'backsmocking'. I read about this alot but not sure what it is, cable I think, also how many rows do I smock?? Thanks for you help, I really, really enjoy your questions and answers and your website. Thanks, Sandy
Dear Sandy,
I'm glad you are enjoying the newsletters, I'm working real hard on developing some new ideas for it. Now about the Bishop dress.
French seams are the 'traditional'way of closing off seams of the sleeves and side seams for smocked or heirloom sewing garments. It leaves a smooth finish to the dress without bulk nor threads like a serged seam. It is traditional to use French Seams with delicate fabrics as they tend to ravel more than other fabrics.
Put wrong sides together match edges and pin together. Sew a 1/4" seam. Meld your stitches to the fabric by placing a hot iron on the right side of the thread stitches and preferrably steaming them into place. (Melding is a process which forces the sewing thread into the fabric instead of lying on top of your seam.) This is done before opening up seams. Trim seam down to 1 1/16th of an inch and fold over to the other edge ironing flat, you may have to open up the seam first and iron flat to get a sharp finish to the end of your seam. When finished ironing sew the closed seam 1/4" from the edge. 1/4" seam allowance unless marked on your machine is usually from the tip of the needle to the edge of your regular sewing foot. Since your seam inside has been trimmed way down you will be able to send this 1/4" seam through and onto the needles as you are only going through two layers of fabric instead of four. Sometimes I also rock the seam onto the needles with a particularily thick fabric.
This is an activity that should be practiced on the back of different types of stitches where a large gap of pleats are left unsmocked on the front. Back-smocking is tacking those loose pleats to the other pleats. Remember the main objective in smocking is to connect each pleat to another pleat so when you take out your pleating threads they won't fly away. Now sometimes these fly-away pleats are part of the design, but for the most part we want to connect the separate pleats and hold them in place, and this is done on the back. The best stitch to use depends on the design in front. The outline and stem stitch hold pleats singularily whereas the cable pleats hold them in pairs of pleats. There are several plates that utilize backsmocking as part of the design for embellishing the front with bullions or silk ribbon embroidery.
From: Donna
I've read that smocking should be blocked after it is smocked. I've also read to block the pleated piece (prior to it's being smocked) to1-inch smaller than the desired finished size. Do I do both or is one way preferrable to another. --->Donna
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From: "Kathy Olson"
That's a good question...I was taught to Tie off the pleating prior to smocking 1 inch smaller than the finished size and to block after....no sizing was mentioned for the blocking except for Bishops...we were to fan it out to a "smile" and pin there to block... -->kathy o.
Dear Kathy O
I learned that one adjusted and blocked the pleated piece to fit the yoke exactly as you wanted it. After smocking it is bound to be pulled in a bit by your smocking, so blocking or steaming in your pleats after smocking is just as effective in keeping an embroidered shape. So in essence you are steaming in the pleats twice into the same shape or measurement.That is such a perfect way of describing how pleating a bishop, fanning the finished pleated piece into a smile. It started me thinking that is also shows that the straight rectange piece can be manipulated into several shapes and forms. In fact it's great fun to play with these different shapes because they can then be made into the cutest things like ornaments and pillows, purses and picture frames. I also block my bishop dresses twice. -- Beth
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Sarah Douglas used to have a pattern of the neatest boxes, round and square. She played around with pleated fabric in one of the most inventive ways I have seen. She "mitered" the corners of the pleated fabric into a perfect square shape and then smocked over the miters creating one of the prettiest geometric designs I have ever seen. Her round boxes were also seen in Handmade Magazine during the early 80's. I also remember a beautiful large round pillow with a center panel that was delicately embroidered.There are so many things you can do with pleated fabric, so many shapes to play around with. Experimental smocking hasn't really moved too far away from the bounds of the rectangle and round shape as the dominant theme. It would be kind of fun to experiment also with the standard smocking stitches and stretch them out or else bridge them with bullions or other extensions attached to the pleats twisted into different shapes. Hmmm maybe a snake pillow (Ôsnake' the rectangle shape) smocked with a snake on it? Or perhaps beaded curtains, utilizing the linear look of the curtains and redesigning it into pleats and embellishments. Smock one large bullion (24 wraps) across and down one row or as long as it will stretch and still retain it's curve. And ... make both of these into pillows - you would have to copy the shape onto a piece of paper and use that as the bottom or sides if the pillow. I was looking today at the newest book Brazilian Embroidery (see what's New on my website) that has come out of Australia and wondered at the multi-wrap bullion flowers (at least 24 wraps) and thought perhaps they wouldn't look neat linking another pleat a distance apart, perhaps about 2 rows down and across a fanned out section of the pleated piece. .... You know what would also look pretty on pleats is the bullion tip lazy daisy stitch, that we have learned to perfect in silk ribbon embroidery, worked in rayon or other shiny threads.
To the ladies at chat the other night "Hey I have a great idea - why not experiment with weird shaped picture smocking, distort it on purpose? It would be a good thing to do with all our mistakes." We were discussing how stretching out smocked fabric with geometric designs can look neat providing the pattern is even. Some stitches lend themselves very well when stretched slightly more than they were meant to be, like trellises and waves.
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Hi Beth!I don't mean to sound dumb - but, I don't know how to read a smocking plate - so you will have to "hold my hand" through this and give me a LOT of direction. Is there another source that I DO have on hand, i.e. "The Joy of Smocking", that I could use just to get started. Can you tell me also - how many rows do I pleat - I have the new Dr. Joe's Pleater which uses 1/2 spaces - do I pleat in the 1/2 spaces? (Its been almost a year since I took the class on how to use my pleater). And, what type of fabric do you suggest for a first project? Thanks so much! Pam
The new half space pleater is causing some confusion with the newcomers to the pleating world. Usually we work in full rows, using the half space rows when we are working an intricate pattern which requires a lot of attention to the half space and where perfect of placing the stitches. One common method of distinguishing the rows from the half rows is to thread those rows with alternating colored thread. Just don't pick red. Red is a color that is not stable in any thread nor ribbon, must be something in the dying of the red color. A real hard color to set. Anyhow it has been reported that red thread will stain your white fabrics, whether it be smocking floss or sewing thread. It does leave a trail sometimes after pleating and embroidering, especially noticeable when you are taking threads out such as pleating threads.
As far as designing or smocking. One of the neat things about half spaces is that you can change your scale and smock in the miniature theme. This is really pretty when worked with two threads instead of three, and even in one strand of floss depending on how tiny you can go. I still remember seeing at a local doll show the sweetest little doll no more than 5" tall wearing the sweetest little basic yoke dress smocked in one strand of floss. The half space rows were turned into rows and the design mimiced a full sized design worked in miniature. The full size design was small to begin with, like a group of baby wave hearts. On the little doll that simple row and half design, a row of baby waves worked from row one to row one and half. Start a trellis stitch at row one and half and work down until exactly center to the middle of two baby wave stitches, thereby making the heart shape when done. It's the sweetest little design, so simple and yet you can doll up this stitch with different shades of floss blending your colors or else using variegated red to pink floss, or overdyed floss.
I would recommend a soft fabric for your first pleating attempt. I also would limit the amount of half spaces that I have threaded. Experiment and see how many rows you like to pleat and how many half rows and then move on to a tighter weave fabric and work the same amount of rows and half rows to get a feel for the different types of fabrics. This is a whole different world of smocking that is quite fun, if you are a fabriholic (or material girl), that of experimenting with different types of fabric to pleat with. For the most part the tightly woven fabrics such as polyesters and denims will be difficult to pleat. 100% cotton is the easier to pleat, as polyesters and blends have memory and are difficult to pleat.The Imperial Brand of fabric is 65% Polyester and 35% Cotton. The finish lends itself very well to smocking and has been used for years because of it's reliability and ease of smocking and pleating. For those of you who prefer cottons there are plenty of "quilting" fabrics which lovely patterns for calico smocking, and for the purest there are lovely 100% Pima cottons in various weights were are wonderful to pleat and smock. Remember, the tighter the weave the harder it will be to pleat. Another thought to remember about threading all of your half space needles are one time (assuming you have a total of 47 needles), it will be a bit tricky to turn the handle of the pleater. Just remember to take the fabric off of the needles more frequently than if you just had the single row needles threaded.
"They haven't got Brains, any of them, only grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake, and they don't think."— Eeyore