March 22, 2000
e-Mail: mainfairy@smockingbooks.com
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.
In This Issue:
More on "Frustrations of a beginner"
Saturday at class my student was having problems with the patterns in her smocking. She asked that I look at her work and discover what was wrong. Aside from the uneveness of stitches (a common problem with beginners) she had misunderstood one of the premises of smocking, that being you always connect your pleats together even from the first stitch. She had made HER first stitch on the pleat where she came up along side instead of moving over to the next pleat to complete her stitch - this threw her whole pattern grid off.
It is so important to know how to start your smocking, in fact it's within the first few stitches that a mistake can be made which will indeed throw your whole pattern off. My suggestion is to be aware of how you start and to be extra careful the first few times you start something. <---Beth-Katherine
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<< Thanks for the newsletter, Beth! About the weight of the dowel: my dad was a tool and die maker. He made a brass rod for my dowel. Works like a charm! He's a pretty smart guy! MaggieB!>>
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<< My biggest problem was that
1) I'm left handed!!!
2) I didn't take any classes! I started smocking when my daughter was an infant (I am presently making her wedding dress) Back then you had a big piece of fabric with a bunch of dots on it. You looked at a picture and followed the dots! Not much fun, but it was for my baby! Now with the pleater it is a lot easier. Since I taught myself I have to have a picture to go by, the graphics are a necessity! I can't follow the written directions.
But since I spend all day, almost every day, sewing and smocking for my grand kids, and a few customers, I must be doing it right!!! I love to smock !!!! Kit >>
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<<Beth-Katherine,
Thank-you so much for your suggestions re: pleating too tightly. I had never been taught to steam my pleats before smocking. I will definitely try this. I have discovered that I do indeed pull on my stitches too tightly as well. I am new to smocking and thoroughly loving it! I enjoy so much your newsletter and the smocking list and have found ideas and suggestions extremely helpful.
With thanks,
Sharon Lavallee>>
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<< I love your newsletter. It is truly helpful to me. I began smocking about 6 years ago, but just finished my first picture smocking insert. I did it from reading Ellen McCarn's book - but, boy, it was tough. I probably started with too difficult a pattern (Little Memories Frogs on lily pads).
I took that first frog belly out three times. The thing that really confused me was turning the work upside down to do the next row. Oh, smart me, I tried working one color at the time instead of going in rows - disaster! I ended up marking all over my pattern every time I finished a row. The other thing that was hard was to get the notion out of my head that the cables need to be on top of each other instead of laid like bricks in geometric smocking. There were so many things to think about that were different from geometric. I haven't sewn this insert into the garment yet, but I'm worried that it's going to be too small. I made the mistake of pulling out all the pleats except the number of pleats the pattern called for! Nobody ever told me to just keep on going with the border! Anyway, I tied it off (or tried to, that's another of my problems) the size that the pattern called for and the pleats were so far apart I couldn't even handle it, so I tied it smaller. It's a good thing I have 4 granddaughters ranging in age from 2 to 9 years. This was supposed to be for the 4 year old, but I may have to use it for the 2 year old!!!
Tieing off problems: Mine never stay the length I first tried to tie them off. I even got my sailor husband to show me slip-proof knots. Is there a secret smockers knot?
Tension problems: I'm retired now, so this is getting better, but my teacher never addressed tension. When I started smocking I had a very stressful banking job. When I was stressed from work the smocking was too tight. Then on a week-end I would smock and it would be looser. So the tension wasn't consistent. It's still not as consistent as I want it to be: that's very hard to do because I smock to relax and enjoy and every time I pick up a project I may not be in the same frame of mind.
I love smocking and will continue to do it as long as my granddaughters will wear the garments, but as long as I've been doing it I can look at the work of the "pros" and wish mine looked that good. I just wish I could perfect my technique.
Enough about me. Thanks for your e-mail
Jane Buttram
Pensacola, FL>>
A very wise woman I met said this yesterday " The hardest part of being a mother is watching our little ones learn all their lessons."