March 15, 1997
e-Mail: smockingstore@att.net
Website: Garden Fairies Smocking & Needlearts Catalog
Welcome to the smocking newsletter from Garden Fairies Trading Company, my name is Beth-Katherine Kaiman. This newsletter comes to you once a week, usually on Mondays. Please address all comments and questions to smockingstore@att.net. Also, please find listed at the end of this newsletter the books and patterns we carry that were mentioned in this newsletter, please check out our web site:
Help!!!!!
Everyone loves to dress up, I don't care who you are it's part of all our inherited heritage to put on fancy clothes for the Holidays. I thought I would share with you some ideas.
Where the custom of dressing up came from no one really knows but it is a sign of respect in all religions to dress in our finest clothes when making reverance or showing respect for your host & hostess. (The history is intriguing and would make an interesting topic for research in anthropoligical studies and really is beyond the scope of our newsletter but I thought I would pass along the idea to anyone out there who is reading and has some spare time on their hands.)
The fanciest of fabrics is silk. Treasured for it's warmth in the winter and coolness in the summer, silk is an often times avoided fabric due to it's costliness and seemingly difficultness for sewing. Actually silk is easy to sew, except for the extra slippery - try diagonal basting for slippery fabrics.
Easter is an important time for many reasons, but the one that I remember the most is that it was dress up time and I always received a new dress and fancy coat to wear. Mind you this was the 1950's and the dress always had layers and layers of petticoats, but the dress that still stands out in my mind was a beautifully allover machine embroidered bodice in shades of green on a green colored cotton fabric. Ah I was in heaven in that dress. Also with those petticoats looked like the stuffing in an Easter basket.
The fabric was a fine polished cotton as polyester fabrics hadn't really moved into the ready to wear industry in children's clothing until the 1970's. I was raised in the natural fibers and can still remember the feel of a soft merino wool that one of my Easter Coats was made in.
If you would like to see a pictures of two different Easter Sundays, the one of my mom in 1922 and of my sister and I on Easter Sunday in 1957 go to: http://members.aol.com/gabandgo/family.html
Vintage Clothing Dousing
I found an antique baby coat at an Antique Store that was made of what we call silk broadcloth. The story of how I found it is typical and amusing so I thought I would share it with you.
The antique store is located on RailRoad Square in Santa Rosa, with buildings dating back to 1880 or earlier (not sure as there was damage in the 1906 earthquake), in a very large one story building with a balcony. There are at least 100 different vendors so the chance of finding something unique is very high on a given day. There is also the factor to throw into the mix of sychronistic thought or buyer's intution that occasionally kicks in. This is also linked to early genetic hunting instinct translated into modern day conditions and body language. (See Vol. 1 Issue for another antique hunt story), but I digress.
I walked in through the door of an old drug store and took a whiff of the air to see if I could sense a bargain or treasure that lured me into this store. I felt something, fingers twitched a sure sign, but wasn't sure where it was so took the stroll around the alleyways of cubicles filled with colored glass, baby strollers from 1910, silver, jewelry, linens and the occasional vintage clothing item that I was hunting for. I was finally pulled into one stall where I saw a sweet baby dress that said "pick me up", always doing what I am told to do I reached over and found to my delight that underneath the baby dress was a hand smocked silk coat for a baby size 1 or 2. This treasure was in the bishop style but the hand smocking had relaxed over the years that you could barely tell it was smocked at all except for the embroidered pattern. This coat is done in North American Smocking.
Two new fabrics in stock suitable for Easter Coats
Well actually one new fabric but in two different cuts.
You asked for it: Soft 100% Merino Wool for baby blankets or a soft coat from Australia. 60" wide $55.00 per yard (Ivory) or a 30" x 45" piece for $45.00 (Ivory or Navy). Navy is also available for yardage.
#249 Silk Fugi Broadcloth - Softer feel than Tussah but in the same family. Fine even weave perfect for shirts, blouses and dresses. 44" wide $14.00 yard
Variations for the Basic Yoke Dress
The basic yoke dress is one of the stables in the smocking world because it accomodates smocking beautifully.
The Basic Yoke Dress evolved from the smock as it moved into main stream clothing for women and children, first appearing in the 1890's in Liberty of London's posh store and catalog. The style was popular for many years going through variations according to the style of the times, however it seems like the dress style in the 1940's has settled down into the popular style for little girls with only the length of the hemline and embellishments adapting itself for the times.
I thought it would be fun to list all the different variations one can do with the Basic Yoke Dress. The majority of these variations have been in books and magazines throughout the past 20 years. I realize that everyone lives in a different area, and some of you dear readers in different cultures, but basically kids are the same whereever they live and you only have a small window of opportunity to put your little girl into a basic yoke dress before they rebel and demand to wear what everyone else is wearing. I know my daughter stopped wearing dresses around age 9 and have been in pants every since. She is now 16 and has given me permission to smock her some pajamas or a nightgown, and yes she did allow picture smocking. (Ah the joys of living with a teenage goddess.)
Variation #1
Dress is made up in the same fabric, yoke and skirt and collar. Add contrasting piping (perhaps white) to the collar and yoke. Short sleeves bound with bias cuff, also piped.
Variation #2
Same dress as above but with a white collar and piping in a color that is accented either in the dress or the smocking.
Variation #3
Calico yoke and skirt, white or colored insert.
Variation #4
(As seen in AS&E), use up your scraps of calico or liberty fabric and make a patchwork dress with four different fabrics on the skirt and sleeves. Contrasting collar and cuffs.
Variation#5
Add in tatting to the collar and sleeve edge, sleeves have a self fabric ruffle.
Variation #6
Change the shape of the collar. Make a square collar or else an heirloom sewn one that is befitting the occasion.
Variation #7
Full bodice smocking
Variation #8
Smocking done at the waist as well as the yoke. Good variation for the older girl.