4/7/99
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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.
One of the neat things I had mentioned last week about smocking inserts was that you can play with their shapes and form them into quite a few interesting forms. A circle is obvious (well maybe not, explore how to make a flat pleated piece into a circle - hint it's in the shaping of the circle tight at the top and loose at the bottom. The pleats fan out into a circle, tighter in the middle which can also be adjusted outwards as well as inwards to accomodate necklines. This is the basic concept behind the bishop dresses. Another shape to consider is an oblong, you can attach the ends of the fabric together so that the pleats meet. This can be done after pleating and before smocking - before would be neat as they you would have a continuous pattern. You might have to calculate the pattern before doing this so you might want to wait until you almost finished smocking and then end in a logical place. Would make a nice toilet seat cover or a pillow. Cut those two in half and you will be able to create new forms from those shapes. Inserts can also be made vertical instead of the using horizontal sandwiched in between, in Diana Keay's Book of Smocking, she inserted thin strips of vertical smocking from the neckline to the length of the dress.
You can also just work with a bacic rectangle as an insert into the front of a garment. The designer Janet Pace in the past has created several garments for women using inserts in a creative manner. One style was an adaptation of the T - Dress while another was a western style shirt with vertical smocking worked as puffing strips. Circle inserts are less commonly done as they get tricky (see above paragraph) but fall into the bishop category.
The style we are going to be working on is the basic horizontal strip across the chest on a little one's chest. Usually we make the insert 'sandwiched' in-between the yoke and the skirt. You don't want it to be too large as it looks out of proportion, so make sure your design has no more than 7 or 8 rows of smocking. The larger the child the more rows of smocking you can do, or if you are working with the style of insert which is attached to the skirt before pleating you will want the design to go into the skirt fabric for some continuity in the smocking. The best style for this insert is any basic yoke pattern or jumper, or a boy's shirt or jumpsuit. This style usually has the insert out of a different color with the skirt attached either with piping or is sewn directedly onto the skirt before it is pleated and gathered together. This is the perfect pattern to choose for adding in an insert as the calculation is easiet to figure out. Of course once you understand the basic insertion rules, the whole world is opened up for you.
"How wide and how long should my insert be?"
To determine how much fabric is needed to pleat into that little space only take a little calculation. With a 24row pleater 9 rows of smocking = a little more than 3 1/8", I think a 16row pleater the measurement will be just a millimeter or two smaller. Add in the top row as your guide row (3/8") for pleating that give you more than enough fabric for your seam allowance (more on this later). If you are working with a Basic Yoke Dress pattern that has been designed with the fullness of Smocking in mind, the addition of an insert is easy - usually they will ask for 45" wide fabric but I have seen some patterns which call for less than that and those dresses aren't so full. To measure the size of insert you want to add you are guided by the amount of rows called for in the smocking design you are going to be working on. Usually on the back of the design it tells you how many rows to smock and how many to pleat. Usually they add in two holding rows (one on the top and one of the bottom) which should equal MORE than the 1/2" seam allowance necessary. Your other fabric to consider on the insert is the very top of the fabric which when you pleat is automatically added into how much fabric you will have on the top and bottom after you smock.
Once you have the measurement of the insert you need to mark on your skirt pattern piece (or whole dress front) where the insert is to be placed so when you go to cut out the skirt you will remember to add 1/2" for the top seam allowance. Then measure along the side of the skirt pattern piece and mark on the pattern piece where the insert will be attached to (the top side of the insert will be attached to the yoke as if it were the smocked front panel) and add 1/2" seam allowance. If you are working with a pattern where the skirt has NOT been designed for smocking the process is basically the same except you might want to add in more fullness in the skirt before attaching it to the insert. It's a judgement call on your part.
A-Line dresses is your next style to consider for an insert, there are some cute jumper and button-on suit patterns out there which have an insert placed into them. Unless the child is very slim in my opinion sheath dresses (straight down to the hemline) are really not suitable for horizontal inserts, but vertical inserts would look fine - experiment.
As I said previously to prepare for the smocked insert using a Basic Yoke Dress or commercial basic yoke pattern you must first decide how many rows to pleat for the design. The design we will be doing for this first smock-a-long is Strawberries and Flowers by Ellen McCarn located in her book On English Smocking. This design calls for 7 rows of smocking which means that you pleat 9 rows, 7 for smocking and two for the holding rows on top and bottom. Measure how many inches this will take including your seam allowances (1/2") - the holding rows are usually the seam allowance. As stated above 9 rows of pleating = 3 1/8", not a lot of design to smock.
On the average a smocked insert contains 45" of fabric which equals a lot of pleats (please don't ask me to count). If your original skirt is the same you will just have a full look with you are done putting the insert into the garment as the skirt will have to be gathered into the insert. If you fabric isn't as wide as 45" you will have basically a smooth look to the skirt. The skirt can be either fully gathered or slightly gathered, it depends on what you want. You also have your choice of either piping the insert onto the yoke and skirt or else sewing the skirt onto the insert, using a contrasting color for the insert, and pleating the whole skirt as one piece. I have seen beautiful examples of this but have also heard from ladies that they do not like this style as it was difficult to pleat the combined skirt/insert front. You might like to experiement at some point in time with this method. There are several AS&E magazines which have it detailed in photographs.
First of all decide what the style of the dress is, whether it is already a yoke dress or if it is a sheath style without any cuts into the front lines at all. If you pattern is already a yoke dress you will have to find the skirt pattern to see the whole dress front. With a sheath pattern you have the full dress front in hand.
If your pattern is already a yoke dress take the yoke pieces and the skirt pieces and pin or place them together to see them as a whole dress front. Notice that on a yoke dress the armhole is cut with part of the armhole just off of the shoulders, mid chest or just above the waist. The bottom of the armhole is located on the skirt pattern. If are going to be making an insert that fits onto the top of the skirt the position of the bottom of the armhole is understood, it will be on the top of your insert. When you are figuring out how wide your piece should be just start with a piece of fabric 45" wide or follow the skirt width measurements of the smocked dress front as your guide for the width of the fabric. The next measurement to find is how long you want your insert to be. The next measurement is based on the plate you want to smock. The one we will be using is Strawberries and Flowers by Ellen McCarn which calls for 7 rows of smocking and two holding rows. The holding rows will end up as part of your seam allowance, you decide how wide you want your seams to be. Some people like the top row to be aligned with the piping, others like it with a small amount of pleated fabric showing, about a half row. Your preference.
Now look at the whole dress front to see if this is where you want your yoke to be, placing the yoke pattern pieces on top of the skirt front to get a feel for the dress before you cut it into fabric. Look to see if you like where the yoke and the skirt meet on the child's chest and decide if you like that. If this is ok them proceed to the next step.
The whole deal with an insert is that we are going to be taking fabric off the top of the skirt front and replacing it with the insert, the yoke pattern pieces remain the same, unless you want them to be higher or lower (and that is another story - let me know). As I stated in the previous paragraph you have your choice of two different ways of inserting the insert. The first being sewing it onto the top of the skirt front and pleating it as one whole piece and the second pleating it as one separate piece and attaching it to both the yoke and skirt front with piping. You will have to gather the separate skirt piece and attach with the piping to the insert.
Usually the insert ends at the armhole or else it is incorporated into the armhole. For your first time inserting may I suggest that you bring the smocking to the edge of the armhole, before the curve starts to occur and utilize flat fabric to make the armhole (see blocking below for detailed instructions).
To decide how to alter your pattern for an insert first take the lengthwise measurement of the version of the dress front you are going to insert your smocking into and subtract the measurement (measure from top to bottom - not side to side) of the insert, you just calculated remember about your seam allowances and make sure you add 1/2" to the skirt and 1/2" to both sides of the insert
If you are using a Basic Yoke Dress for smocking there will be a piece labeled "Blocking Guide" and yes you can use that with the insert. This piece combines the width of the yoke and the placement of the armhole curve that should be located on the skirt piece. You are meant to pin this to your ironing board and match your pleated piece to it and to mark the placements of the bottom of the armhole and then after straightening the pleats and tying them off you steam the heck out of it to set the pleats. (On a Non Smocking A-Line dress there is only one pattern piece which has to be cut and seam allowances added.)
The blocking pattern is the area that you use to block the insert to proper size. They usually also have the bottom half of the armhole, the other half being on the yoke pieces. On a basic yoke dress look on your skirt pieces to find the bottom half of the armhole.
If you are using a Basic Yoke Dress for smocking there will be a piece labeled "Blocking Guide". This piece combines the width of the yoke and the placement of the armhole curve that should be located on the skirt piece. You are meant to pin this to your ironing board and match your pleated piece to it and to mark the placements of the bottom of the armhole and then after straightening the pleats and tying them off you steam the heck out of it to set the pleats. (On a Non Smocking A-Line dress there is only one pattern piece which has to be cut and seam allowances added.)
If you are not using a pattern that has been designed for smocking you can easily make a blocking guide out of your pattern pieces or else drawn from them. The bottom of the yoke is the width of the insert but don't forget to add in the armhole bottoms, otherwise you won't be able to get your sleeve in. The armhole curve which is on the skirt front is to be put onto the sides of the insert.
Once you have marked on the skirt pattern pieces where the insert will be inserted (don't forget your seam allowance of 1/2") you will then see on the sides of the skirt pattern piece where the bottom of the armholes are to be placed, usually this is about 3 - 4" of flat fabric, about 2 or 3 pleats. Unpick the threads holding the pleats of both sides the width of the armhole depth and tie off one side. If necessary scrunch up the pleats along the width of the yoke, or tape measure which ever you have your insert pinned next to, and tie off the other side.
If there is no blocking pattern or guide then you should know that the blocking pattern is the area that you use to block the insert to proper size. They usually also have the bottom half of the armhole, the top half being on the yoke pieces. On a basic yoke dress look on your skirt pieces to find the bottom half of the armhole.
"We can't all, and some of us don't. That's all there is to it." -- Eeyore.
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