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April 19, 2001
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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.
FAQ's of Smocking - Part One
A Trick for Bishops
FAQ's of Smocking - Part One (these will be posted on the website)
What is a smocking plate?
A smocking plate is smocking design graph, called a plate because it is in color and looks like a "plate" in a book. A smocking pattern is a pattern that has been designed with smocking in mind. Most smocking patterns today do not have a smocking design included, hence the design plates.
How do I insert a piece of pleated fabric into a garment?
This is done by measuring the piece you wish to cut out of a garment and insert a pleated and smocked piece of fabric. It is best to use piping to stabilize your pleats (we carry peitite piping in a rainbow of colors). Depending on who you are going to be sewing for, look for a smooth or flat area (no darts or princess curves) on the pattern to insert into, such as the upper chest area (not bust line), or vertical lenthwise along side a button placket, or anywhere you think it would look nice.
Make sure when you do cut out a section to insert into that you replace the same amount as was there originally and to include your seam allowances, i.e. an insert 5" tall will actually be 6" - including two 1/2" seams on the top and bottom of insert. The segment cut out of the pattern piece will be 4" (reflecting a 5" insert with two 1/2" seams on the top and bottom, bent back out of the way). See what I am talking about? Of course the two pattern pieces won't be attached so you won't really see that measurement but when you are calculating the insert you have to do a little creative thinking. Don't forget this important fact otherwise your garment will have added length to it.
Recommended reading: Adapting a commercial garment for the Smocked Insert by Diane Bruce (books.html)
What is the difference between a bishop and a basic yoke dress?
A bishop dress evolved from the round smock and Victorian Times Liberty Dress adapted for children. It has raglan sleeves and is now mostly worn by little girls. Today's casual look raglan blouses worn by teenagers are based on the bishop style mostly known as peasant blouses which evolved from the peasan smock or chemise. (The Hungarian Peasant Blouse by Folkwear is a reproduction pattern of this style, comes with smocking as well as embroidery instructions.)
A basic yoke dress also evolved from the smock. It's roots are deep into the basic garment that was devised as the undershirt. It's unqiue feature is that the smocking falls from the yoke of a dress (or bodice). The yoke holds the pleats in place. There are many, many different variations of the basic yoke dress including a full bodice design.
Recommended Patterns: Designers to look at are Ellen McCarn, Chery Williams, Pat Garretson, ABC Kids, B&B Blueprints. Which pattern is the best? Well they are all almost equal except for directions. I've found that Ellen's are the most comprehensive with Chery Williams coming in at a close second.
Counterchange Smocking
What is Counterchange Smocking?
Counterchange smocking is usually worked over pleated fabric. It's history evolved from what is called gingham smocking but has it's roots in the manner in which smocking was worked over fabric. The pleats are formed while you are doing the stitches, but these pleats usually are too wide to be considered pleats and are more like tucks.
Ann Hallay brought counterchange smocking to the smocking and heirloom sewing world. She developed the art into her own style of picture smocking which has been adapted by the Australians in AS&E. Images can been seen on this page http://www.smockingstore.com/ann.html
We also have coming her patterns, the Counterchange Baby Bishop and the Bikini (images in two days).
A trick on pleating a bishop
I came to this "trick" while working on some baby bishops this past week. I have always wondered about the top row on a bishop neckline as a holding row as well as a smocking row. My teacher taught us to work an outline stitch on this row which was to be covered by the bias neckline but a lot of designs tell you to start smocking on this row, so there has always been a pocket of confusion in my procedural brain until yesterday. I suddenly thought 'why not use a half space needle as the holding row for the very top which would solve a couple of problems that the ladies are always asking me about, that of bent pleats and fold overs'. I tried it and found that it worked beautifully.
With the very first row being a half space row (your graph would then look like this
row 1/2
row 1
row 2
row 3
row 4
row 5
row 6
row 6 1/2
With the extra pleating thread at the very top it makes adjusting the gathers easier, if you break one of the threads you have the other in place already, and your gathers are less likely to fold over when applying the neckline bias.
This top 1/2 row is backsmocked with the outline stitch, as you would the top row, and allows the top row to be smocked.
After I came to this realization I found the old Yvonne Denise Patterns from 1984 (now ABC Kids) had this suggestion already in print - brilliant minds think alike, except my mmb took years to come to the conclusion .... ahem.
So give this suggestion a try and see if it doesn't help.
Go to Smocking Books for beginning Smocking books
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Smocking Newsletter since 1997, frequently imitated. Glad to be of inspiration to all who read our issues. All we ask is that you give us credit when you quote from our newsletters, we do.
Lots of new pages for you to see:
Ready to Smock
Smocking Patterns for Boys
Smocked Nightgowns
Smocking FAQ's
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Beth-Katherine Kaiman, Copyright © 1997 - 2005, All rights reserved