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April 30, 2006
e-Mail: mainfairy@smockingbooks.com
Website: Garden Fairies Smocking & Needlearts Catalog
Smocking Newsletter - Beth-Katherine Kaiman, copyright 1997-2006, 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.
From Our Readers
Blocking Question
Q&A - When do you construct your gament, before or after smocking
LM A Slow Go Question
Iron on Transfer Dots question
Hello everyone. I know it's been a while since our last newsletter but wanted to reassure you that we're still here working everyday to fill your orders and answer your questions. Please note we have had to change our email address mainfairy@smockingbooks.com <-- Beth
ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸Blocking Question¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø
<<Thank you so much for your help! I just have a couple more questions if you don't mind. I think I may have pushed the pleats too close together before tying off the pleating threads. Is it ok to work with the pleats fairly loose to make it easier to push the pleats aside and see the thread? Also what do you mean when you said I'll block or steam the smocking? How do I do this and why?>> Blocking is an essential aspect of smocking which you do before you begin smocking otherwise your piece of smocking will not match what you are attaching it to. The process is simple, after pleating tie off the threads on one side side in pairs. Line up both the pleated piece and the yoke on the the ironing board pinning both pieces to the board while matching seam edges and tie off the other side of the pleated piece. This is where you get to play with the pleats to make them straight and even across, then steam for a couple of minutes and allow to dry. The steaming process will cause the pleats to stay uniformly throughout the whole smocking process. When you are done smocking, do the process again while stretching out the smocked piece to match the seam edges of the yoke (or piece you are matching the smocking to) and steam again. Now your smocking is ready to be sewn to the yoke. << Hello, I am teaching myself to smock and in the search for information I found your site. What an enormous amount of work you have put into that! I saw in several places you invite people to ask questions, so I hope you don't mind my asking one. I need help with keeping my stitches straight. I did beautifully on gingham, but when I tried picture smocking on a white insert it didn't go so well. My shapes were a little warped and I had a hard time making a straight row. I know that I'm supposed to use the pleating thread to stay straight, but I can't see it. It is buried in the pleats. I'm hoping you have some magic trick to share with me because I'm really enjoying smocking and don't want to give up. Also, which of the knott's dots work better for picture smocking? Thank you for offering such a wonderful source of information to the public. Kelly York >> The hand spacing dots work best for picture smocking. As for your other problem with squashed picture designs É this is where the half space rows could come in handy for you, except you are ironing on dots and they don't make th edots with half spaces, :-( É Don't feel too bad as when I first started I made squashed tomatoes instead of apples :-) My suggestion is to practice a little on a sampler piece, taking extra care to make sure your stitches are always parallel to the pleating thread as this is the key to success with smocking. You may have to push the pleats aside with your needle to see the thread or use a contrasting color such as orange (easy to see), as you will be removing these threads after blocking (steaming). I find myself putting the pulling apart of the pleats as part of each stitch, especially on the half spaces, and then angle my needle accordingly so as it's straight across matching the pleating thread. For picture smocking you need to use 4 strands of floss and make sure you are following your graph so as not to include an extra row of cable stitches within the space marked by the graph. Usually you will be able to see how many rows of cable stitches you need between your pleating threads. Again it takes a little practice but it's worth in the long run. Hope this answers your questions, if not feel free to write back and I'll clarify if needed. << I have a friend who wants to learn to smock so she can make clothes for tiny (6" to 3") dolls. I smock for 12" and larger dolls, babies, and small children, and I'm willing to teach her to smock, but I have my doubts about being able to smock that small. You have much more experience with smocking than I do. Do you think that smocking can be reduced enough to become that small? I told her that creating such tiny pleats would be nearly impossible, but she is convinced that if she can envision it, it can be done. Thanks for the advice. Lucile Giddings >> Tiny smocking can be done quite easily as long as you follow certain 'rules". First of all the guage is smaller so you have to compensate with the amount of floss you will be using, 2 strands instead of 3 or 4, and you have to find a way to pleat smaller rows. The width spacing can stay the same but the length spacing is what you need to shorten. If using a pleater this is easy, as you pleat 1/2 space rows and treat them like rows rather than 1/2 rows, the end result being that your normal smocking design will be shrinked in half. If you are using iron on dots to form the pleats I recommend the hand spacing dots instead of pleater compatible as their guage is narrower. Again use the half space rows as rows, however the iron on dots don't do half space rows and so won't show up on the fabric, you will have to pleat the full rows and smock in between. If you have a pleater you can take a good look at it to see the guage it pleats as, done easily by spreading out your fabric and measuring the dots. You will find that it is 3/8" x 1/4" (I think, measure again) is your guage or grid of dots that you follow. The Hand spacing dots we carry are a smaller guage or grid of dots, it is . Measure the different grids of dots and have print outs available, put this into a kit form ... grids of dots for different sizes of smocking. Test it and see if it sells or just the singles of the smaller sizes for dolls. You can also create a tiny grid of dots in the guage you prefer to smock and transfer these to your fabric with an iron on pencil to create your own iron on transfers. In one of the older books I remember seeing a chart of sizes of different guages of dots for different types of smocking. I could have an old book with the images within ... scan then and put them into a newsletter that the ladies all look forward to. Yes there is in one old book as well as Smocks and Smocking. Babies use this size, dolls use this size - perhaps I could create a dot to dot patterns for doll clothes and sell it as a kit with the iron on transfer pencils. Show how honeycomb smocking is worked with that size of dot guage. ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸, Questions & Answers ,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø
Blocking is an essential aspect of smocking which you do before you begin smocking otherwise your piece of smocking will not match what you are attaching it to. The process is simple, after pleating tie off the threads on one side side in pairs. Line up both the pleated piece and the yoke on the the ironing board pinning both pieces to the board while matching seam edges and tie off the other side of the pleated piece. This is where you get to play with the pleats to make them straight and even across, then steam for a couple of minutes and allow to dry. The steaming process will cause the pleats to stay uniformly throughout the whole smocking process.
When you are done smocking, do the process again while stretching out the smocked piece to match the seam edges of the yoke (or piece you are matching the smocking to) and steam again. Now your smocking is ready to be sewn to the yoke.
<< Hello, I am teaching myself to smock and in the search for information I found your site. What an enormous amount of work you have put into that! I saw in several places you invite people to ask questions, so I hope you don't mind my asking one.
I need help with keeping my stitches straight. I did beautifully on gingham, but when I tried picture smocking on a white insert it didn't go so well. My shapes were a little warped and I had a hard time making a straight row. I know that I'm supposed to use the pleating thread to stay straight, but I can't see it. It is buried in the pleats. I'm hoping you have some magic trick to share with me because I'm really enjoying smocking and don't want to give up. Also, which of the knott's dots work better for picture smocking? Thank you for offering such a wonderful source of information to the public. Kelly York >>
The hand spacing dots work best for picture smocking.
As for your other problem with squashed picture designs É this is where the half space rows could come in handy for you, except you are ironing on dots and they don't make th edots with half spaces, :-( É Don't feel too bad as when I first started I made squashed tomatoes instead of apples :-)
My suggestion is to practice a little on a sampler piece, taking extra care to make sure your stitches are always parallel to the pleating thread as this is the key to success with smocking. You may have to push the pleats aside with your needle to see the thread or use a contrasting color such as orange (easy to see), as you will be removing these threads after blocking (steaming). I find myself putting the pulling apart of the pleats as part of each stitch, especially on the half spaces, and then angle my needle accordingly so as it's straight across matching the pleating thread. For picture smocking you need to use 4 strands of floss and make sure you are following your graph so as not to include an extra row of cable stitches within the space marked by the graph. Usually you will be able to see how many rows of cable stitches you need between your pleating threads. Again it takes a little practice but it's worth in the long run.
Hope this answers your questions, if not feel free to write back and I'll clarify if needed.
<< I have a friend who wants to learn to smock so she can make clothes for tiny (6" to 3") dolls. I smock for 12" and larger dolls, babies, and small children, and I'm willing to teach her to smock, but I have my doubts about being able to smock that small.
You have much more experience with smocking than I do. Do you think that smocking can be reduced enough to become that small? I told her that creating such tiny pleats would be nearly impossible, but she is convinced that if she can envision it, it can be done. Thanks for the advice. Lucile Giddings >>
Tiny smocking can be done quite easily as long as you follow certain 'rules". First of all the guage is smaller so you have to compensate with the amount of floss you will be using, 2 strands instead of 3 or 4, and you have to find a way to pleat smaller rows. The width spacing can stay the same but the length spacing is what you need to shorten. If using a pleater this is easy, as you pleat 1/2 space rows and treat them like rows rather than 1/2 rows, the end result being that your normal smocking design will be shrinked in half. If you are using iron on dots to form the pleats I recommend the hand spacing dots instead of pleater compatible as their guage is narrower. Again use the half space rows as rows, however the iron on dots don't do half space rows and so won't show up on the fabric, you will have to pleat the full rows and smock in between.
If you have a pleater you can take a good look at it to see the guage it pleats as, done easily by spreading out your fabric and measuring the dots. You will find that it is 3/8" x 1/4" (I think, measure again) is your guage or grid of dots that you follow. The Hand spacing dots we carry are a smaller guage or grid of dots, it is .
Measure the different grids of dots and have print outs available, put this into a kit form ... grids of dots for different sizes of smocking. Test it and see if it sells or just the singles of the smaller sizes for dolls.
You can also create a tiny grid of dots in the guage you prefer to smock and transfer these to your fabric with an iron on pencil to create your own iron on transfers.
In one of the older books I remember seeing a chart of sizes of different guages of dots for different types of smocking. I could have an old book with the images within ... scan then and put them into a newsletter that the ladies all look forward to. Yes there is in one old book as well as Smocks and Smocking.
Babies use this size, dolls use this size - perhaps I could create a dot to dot patterns for doll clothes and sell it as a kit with the iron on transfer pencils. Show how honeycomb smocking is worked with that size of dot guage.
ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸, Questions & Answers ,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø
Here are some recent questions we've received about using Smocking Dots instead of a pleater to form pleats for picture smocking & bishops and constructing garments before smocking. <<When do you put garments together, before or after smocking?>> This depends upon the style of garment you are making and the time frame you have to sew as many ladies have a limited window of time to sew. If a bishop dress you need to pre-construct before pleating by sewing the sleeves to the front and back with tiny french seams or serged seams. After smocking and blocking into shape you then finish up the dress by adding in the back placket, sew the back & side seams and attach the bias band. If you wish to totally construct the bishop dress before smocking you will have to smocking the top holding row in order to attach the bias band properly so as to make sure your pleats stay upright and not fall over. It's real tricky to do a bishop in the "ready to smock" style but not impossible. A basic square yoke style or round yoke style is usually smocked first and then sewn together. Insert as well are completely smocked before inserting ... however for both of these styles there is a trick I learned while smocking for clients, you smock the first two top and bottom rows and then sew the pleated piece into the garment so the dress was all finished when the smocking was complete. If my hands were tired from smocking I would shift to the construction process just to change out of the repetitive motion mode of smocking. However, if the style calls for smocking into the armhole you should wait on attaching the smocked piece to the rest of garment until the smocking is finished and then complete the garment, whether it be dress, romper or coat. Inserts can easily be put into garments before smocking as long as you smock the top and bottom two rows for stability of the pleats for attaching piping (you don't want to have your pleats lean over one another as it looks tacky). If the insert is back smocked then you can put it in before adding in the motifs. The bottom line is that iIt all depends upon the crush of time you have to smock and the time you have to sew, but do know it's a bit uncomfortable to smock the whole garment rather than just a section. * * * <<LM A Slow Go. Can this be smocked on a bishop? Round collar for a 5 year old or only straight across? Thanks. Patti>> The main problem working picture smocking in the round is the splaying difference of the pleats as you move downward on your piece. A bishop or smocked collar needs to have the bottom rows splay outwards towards the bottom in order to qualify as "round", otherwise a consistent tension will cause the round to turn into a tube ... causing the dreaded turtle neck that bishop dress makers hate.LM's A Slow Go might not work well on a bishop dress especially if the snails are worked on those rows that need splaying out for the "roundness". You can experiment, perhaps have the snails up higher on the rows to avoid the splaying out pleats of the bottoms rows that fall over the shoulders or else smock a bit looser on the bottom half of the snail (if it hits those rows which splay out more than the top rows). You also might consider adding in some more fabric to create more pleats (especially helpful when working with Swiss batistes) but my suggestion is to experiment and see if it will work. The main concern of picture smocking on a bishop is that picture smocking creates a rigid section whereas bishops and round collars need more flexible stitches in order to flow properly. As I said before experiment on loosening up your stacked cables to create the flow but not enough to make the motif look awful. LM#163 A Slow Go $4.50 each Quantity requested * * * <My aunt has been looking for the transfer dots for smocking and I was happy to see that you have them. My question is : Are there special patterns for this type of smocking? She is looking for a bishop pattern. I have several bishop patterns that are used with a pleater, but didn't know if she could use them with the dots. <----Susan>> Excellent question. I have seen in old manuals the method of bishop smocking with the iron on dots wherein you clip and spread the straight grid of dots into the shape of the neckline. This is really an unnecessary, stressful method as the method of construction is the same whether using a pleater or iron-on dots. After the beginning construction of attaching the sleeves to the front and back you then iron on the dots onto the bishop garment using the straight grid. You form the semi circular shape of the neckline AFTER you pull up the pleating threads with the item pinned to a neckline guide. We recommend the style Pleater Compatible Dots grid as they can be used with any of the patterns we carry. Iron-On Smocking Dots - $3.50 per package of two 24" x 36" sheets. Two styles and two colors: (Regular spacing and Pleater Compatible - blue or yellow) Pleater Compatible Spacing Blue Smocking Dots Price $3.50 Quantity requested Yellow Smocking Dots Price $3.50 Quantity requested Traditional Spacing Blue Smocking Dots Price $3.50 Quantity requested Yellow Smocking Dots Price $3.50 Quantity requested Pleater Compatible spacing (to match the contemporary smocking patterns we sell). Your choice of two colors Yellow for dark fabrics or Blue for light fabrics.
Here are some recent questions we've received about using Smocking Dots instead of a pleater to form pleats for picture smocking & bishops and constructing garments before smocking.
<<When do you put garments together, before or after smocking?>>
This depends upon the style of garment you are making and the time frame you have to sew as many ladies have a limited window of time to sew.
If a bishop dress you need to pre-construct before pleating by sewing the sleeves to the front and back with tiny french seams or serged seams. After smocking and blocking into shape you then finish up the dress by adding in the back placket, sew the back & side seams and attach the bias band. If you wish to totally construct the bishop dress before smocking you will have to smocking the top holding row in order to attach the bias band properly so as to make sure your pleats stay upright and not fall over. It's real tricky to do a bishop in the "ready to smock" style but not impossible. A basic square yoke style or round yoke style is usually smocked first and then sewn together. Insert as well are completely smocked before inserting ... however for both of these styles there is a trick I learned while smocking for clients, you smock the first two top and bottom rows and then sew the pleated piece into the garment so the dress was all finished when the smocking was complete. If my hands were tired from smocking I would shift to the construction process just to change out of the repetitive motion mode of smocking. However, if the style calls for smocking into the armhole you should wait on attaching the smocked piece to the rest of garment until the smocking is finished and then complete the garment, whether it be dress, romper or coat. Inserts can easily be put into garments before smocking as long as you smock the top and bottom two rows for stability of the pleats for attaching piping (you don't want to have your pleats lean over one another as it looks tacky). If the insert is back smocked then you can put it in before adding in the motifs. The bottom line is that iIt all depends upon the crush of time you have to smock and the time you have to sew, but do know it's a bit uncomfortable to smock the whole garment rather than just a section.
A basic square yoke style or round yoke style is usually smocked first and then sewn together. Insert as well are completely smocked before inserting ... however for both of these styles there is a trick I learned while smocking for clients, you smock the first two top and bottom rows and then sew the pleated piece into the garment so the dress was all finished when the smocking was complete. If my hands were tired from smocking I would shift to the construction process just to change out of the repetitive motion mode of smocking. However, if the style calls for smocking into the armhole you should wait on attaching the smocked piece to the rest of garment until the smocking is finished and then complete the garment, whether it be dress, romper or coat.
Inserts can easily be put into garments before smocking as long as you smock the top and bottom two rows for stability of the pleats for attaching piping (you don't want to have your pleats lean over one another as it looks tacky). If the insert is back smocked then you can put it in before adding in the motifs.
The bottom line is that iIt all depends upon the crush of time you have to smock and the time you have to sew, but do know it's a bit uncomfortable to smock the whole garment rather than just a section.
* * *
<<LM A Slow Go. Can this be smocked on a bishop? Round collar for a 5 year old or only straight across? Thanks. Patti>>
The main problem working picture smocking in the round is the splaying difference of the pleats as you move downward on your piece. A bishop or smocked collar needs to have the bottom rows splay outwards towards the bottom in order to qualify as "round", otherwise a consistent tension will cause the round to turn into a tube ... causing the dreaded turtle neck that bishop dress makers hate.LM's A Slow Go might not work well on a bishop dress especially if the snails are worked on those rows that need splaying out for the "roundness". You can experiment, perhaps have the snails up higher on the rows to avoid the splaying out pleats of the bottoms rows that fall over the shoulders or else smock a bit looser on the bottom half of the snail (if it hits those rows which splay out more than the top rows). You also might consider adding in some more fabric to create more pleats (especially helpful when working with Swiss batistes) but my suggestion is to experiment and see if it will work. The main concern of picture smocking on a bishop is that picture smocking creates a rigid section whereas bishops and round collars need more flexible stitches in order to flow properly. As I said before experiment on loosening up your stacked cables to create the flow but not enough to make the motif look awful.
The main concern of picture smocking on a bishop is that picture smocking creates a rigid section whereas bishops and round collars need more flexible stitches in order to flow properly. As I said before experiment on loosening up your stacked cables to create the flow but not enough to make the motif look awful.
LM#163 A Slow Go
<My aunt has been looking for the transfer dots for smocking and I was happy to see that you have them. My question is : Are there special patterns for this type of smocking? She is looking for a bishop pattern. I have several bishop patterns that are used with a pleater, but didn't know if she could use them with the dots. <----Susan>>
Excellent question. I have seen in old manuals the method of bishop smocking with the iron on dots wherein you clip and spread the straight grid of dots into the shape of the neckline. This is really an unnecessary, stressful method as the method of construction is the same whether using a pleater or iron-on dots. After the beginning construction of attaching the sleeves to the front and back you then iron on the dots onto the bishop garment using the straight grid. You form the semi circular shape of the neckline AFTER you pull up the pleating threads with the item pinned to a neckline guide. We recommend the style Pleater Compatible Dots grid as they can be used with any of the patterns we carry.
We recommend the style Pleater Compatible Dots grid as they can be used with any of the patterns we carry.
Iron-On Smocking Dots - $3.50 per package of two 24" x 36" sheets. Two styles and two colors: (Regular spacing and Pleater Compatible - blue or yellow)
Price $3.50 Quantity requested
Yellow Smocking Dots
Pleater Compatible spacing (to match the contemporary smocking patterns we sell).
"A tail isn't a tail to THEM, it's just a *little bit extra* at the back." — Eeyore
Smocking Newsletter since 1996, 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.
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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.
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