5/17/99
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.
Dear Ladies, I wanted to tell you about the new book by Country Bumpkin, A to Z Bullion Embroidery. It is a wonderful reference volume as well as a delight to the senses. The creatures that these clever embroiderers have come up will make you giggle with delight, well ok that was an exaggeration but still the designs are very clever. As well as beautiful bullion roses there are several ÒcreaturesÓ formed out of bullions. We all have been waiting with anticipation for this book to be published. In the smocking world we have seen many clever ways of working bullions onto smocking pleats as well as flat fabric but this book has some of the most clever critters I'd ever seen.
Please go to my Books We Carry page to view the cover of the book and decide for yourself. I believe the designs are unique and original. [Unable to display image] There are many of us shop owners here in America who have promoted Country Bumpkin products for years and who admire and appreciate the beauty of Australian work; it's fine beautiful work that reflects the diverse styles of bullion embroidery. I especially admire the works of Jenny Bradford, Merrilyn Heazlewood, Susan O'Connor and others whose names I cannot remember but whose style I recognize. The combinations of threads and textures that make up the many diverse projects never fail to enchant my imagination. They have definitely permeated my personal style. Things are changing so fast in the computer world again. The pace has been stepped up. The only way to keep up with this rapid pace is with an upgradeable computer and an upgradable mind. Actually that is the secret to keeping young. Keeping the mind active learning new things. The embroidery world however moves at a much slower pace than the ever changing computer world and I feel this is an important balance to relax the stressed mind. I have said it before, smocking is a rhythmic art form, and rhythm triggers the alpha wave length. There is a wonderful book out, sorry I cannot remember the name or where I saw the reference, but it is about Mozart (could be The Mozart Effect) and the music brings on healing to the body and the mind. Smocking is also a rhythmic art. I have heard it so many times when you get your hand moving in patterns that are stored in your memory and automatic pilot takes over, the brain is lulled into a sense of peace and tranquility. So put up your feet, close the door to your worries and sit and smock, relax and practice your stitches if you are a beginner or perfect your stitches if you are advanced. There is not really that much to learn to smock but once you do a whole new world is open up to you.
SAGA's website has a lovely new look, check it out http://www.smocking.org/
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Smocking in the 20th century brought many changes to this art form. We started the century out with the traditional smocks worn by farmers move into the fashion world as a more relaxed style of dress than the formal wear that people wore. Less and less field workers wore their smocks due to the hazards of catching the fabric in the machines. Smocking became obsolete with all the new innovations to clothing manufacturer and was threatened to become an extinct art form. Fortunately the simple style of clothing appealed to the artists, particularly William Morris and so smocking became fashionable to wear. Liberty of London promoted handmade dresses, blouses and outfits for children in their famous London store. The famous Liberty's Aesthetic Dress, round yoke blouse with a high neck collar (turtle neck) and smocked at the waist became a beautiful garment when made up in silk. Smocking moved into children's clothing during the teens and twenties, setting the trends that are continued today in our children's clothing. Smocking was seen in full yokes across the chest of little girls and boys as well as small sections on shirts and sleeve cuffs and sleeve heads. The smock itself evolved into a non-embroidered entity that was seen in earlier sack coverings that many field workers wore to protect their clothing from the harsh elements in the fields to be worn by artists and workers in factories. The pharmacists smock or nurses smock can trace it's roots to last centuries coverings. Smocking in the 30's and 40's became more sophisticated as society grew and change. The advent of better communications opened up whole new worlds of thought and so reflected itself in a more simplified manner of dress. In the 40's and 50's smocking was seen as a form of fabric manipulation rather than embellishments. Gingham smocking, lattice smocking showed up on pillows and sleeves and even ball gowns. The influence of Ethnic fabric art influences from Asian cultures to Arabic cultures showed up in the form of the different ways of tying off the fabrics to create the different puckered textures. I believe these tying forms came from Shibori, the method of tying and dying fabric most associated with Japan.
As I was smocking today I began to realize that there were a few more tricks that I could pass along to you. Before you tie off a row ... Before you tie off a row look back and see if your stitches are even and smooth and are placed consistently along the row. If they are then you don't have to take any stitches out. If there are a few stitches that stand out and really bug you then I would go ahead and carefully unpick the stitches with the blunt end of the needle (the eye side). If your stitches are even but some are too were done too loose and make the rest of your smocking look untidy, rather than taking out the stitches and re-smocking I would take the blunt end of the needle and work my way under the stitch and carefully with your finger nails pull the stitch tight and work Check your work as you smock As you begin smocking I would work about ten stitches then look back to make sure they are even and smooth, not too loose nor so tight that they pull in the fabric.Get a rhythm going. If some stitches are too loose, instead of taking out your smocking it is sometimes easier to work the blunt end of the needle under the stitch and pull the stitch up (or down) and work the looseness out across the row in this manner. Pull up the last stitch, tightening the stitch before it and then do the same for the next stitches until you come to your needle. Then proceed smocking the row across. Sometimes this is less time consuming than taking out the stitches and re-smocking. Floss has nap like velvet or velveteen Another trick to make your smocking smooth is to make sure that you have use the smooth side of the floss so the nap lays down flat. This will keep the floss smooth as you are smocking. If you notice that your threads don't stay together, one thread stands up try tightening the stitch as above. If this doesn't work then take the stitches out, smooth the floss and re-smock across. As you are smocking take the time to notice that your strands stay together, occasionally relaxing the needle untwisting the floss and smooth the strands together.
Another tip is to observe if you are twisting or twirling your needle while you are working so much so that your threads end up all twisted. This is an unconscious habit that we all have, more or less with different people, but it's just one more thing to be aware of while smocking. A twisted thread can make your smocking look uneven.
Pleats tend to shift while we first start smocking.
In smocking the beginning rows occasionally the pleats tend to shift and you are left with huge gaps, don't panic it's normal. After all that effort you went into blocking your smocking I can understand why you might be a bit afraid when this happens. Calm down this is normal and will be adjusted after you have enough rows smocked to hold the rows of pleats in place. If it happens just shift the pleats back to where you blocked them and continue smocking. This is one reason why we recommend smocking the very top and very bottom row of your design to keep the pleats straightly aligned. If your pleated piece moves too much and becomes all askew, just take it over to the ironing board and pin it straight and re-steam the pleats to get it back into shape. Also you might find after a while that the pleats between the places where there is smocking tend to look like they are going to flyaway. Don't worry it probably shows that you need to do a bit of back smocking to hold that section in pleat formation.
With cable stitches you can also use your needle to pat the stitches in place after smocking. This is a very good habit to get into for when you are picture smocking you will want your cable stitches to be perfect. (See Laura Jenkins Thompson's Picture Smocking Book for more details on beautiful cable stitches. The lady even spray starches her floss to keep it smooth!) Beth
"I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house." Zsa Zsa Gabor