9/28/97  Sarah Douglas Chat Log Part Two

Sarah Douglas:

Lacis has a nifty bit of a swatch made by someone testing a design

Sarah Douglas:

she was working on 100 count linen, counting threads to get it straight

Sarah Douglas:

little people and baskets, 17th century

AnneWynne:

What is Italian shirring? Is it the same as lattice smocking?

Sarah Douglas:

ok, scratch chella thornton as inventor of pictures. No, Anne it is running stitch, on flat fabric, then pulled up. you have to count or fake it on pleats and then pull the pleating threads out and let it puff.

Sarah Douglas:

Portuguese and spanish left the pleating threads in. Started with pleated fabric

Gina:

used in sleeves?

AnneWynne:

when does that date from (historically speaking)?

Sarah Douglas:

Spanish exported smocking, small pox and syphillis to the new world

GarFairies:

the three s's

Sarah Douglas:

Spanish? lots of 17th and 18th c left around

Sarah Douglas:

V&A has a shirt that is a really good match to one at the Royal Ontario in Toronto. Made me think there was a workshop grinding them out. It also has some stuff with pulled thread on it. Exotic pulled thread. my current love

Kathy:

gives me idea for evening gown sleeve, smocked, embellished with pearls and beading with shi shirring between smocked rows

Sarah Douglas:

that would be good. there is something at western reserve in cleveland with beads on the surface stitches. Just running stitch, fairly close tog here

Gina:

please what is western reserve?

Sarah Douglas:

museum in cleveland. M of fine arts has good textile collection there too. Ohio not the end of the world. the river no longer burns

Kathy:

I  do a lot of sleeve treatments with smocking and embellishments choice of fabrics is also another consideration for overall effect and design evening gowns are really big here in Mobile, AL

Sarah Douglas:

you can always line part of a sheer for decency

Gina:

Sarah, has most of your research been in museums with items on display

Gina:

or do you enter the "back rooms"?

Sarah Douglas:

if I can. most places are very nice about it. the V&A has gotten very sticky. Everyone wants to see their collection. Even the study room isn't open al the time now. Used to be.

Gina:

do you call museums in advance for appointments?

Sarah Douglas:

Call after you write

Gina:

thanks

Sarah Douglas:

or call, get name, call and write. You should have the curator's name

Gina:

double thanks!

Sandy:

On the cover of AS&E#40 is a dress of voil. Haven't got my copy yet but saw it the other day is that hard to pleat?

Sarah Douglas:

sheers hard to pleat?

Kathy:

depends on the weight, sometime pleat by hand

Sarah Douglas:

oh, voile. fragile. easy to mess it up.

Kathy:

silk sheers pleat wonderfully

Sandy:

yes, do you double it with whatever goes underneath?

GarFairies:

that was my first pleating nightmare

Sarah Douglas:

line the pleated part so you don't tear the voile

Kathy:

no

Sarah Douglas:

silk, polyester, something light seam and fold the lining under or just paper clip two layers together

Sandy:

as the lining?

Sarah Douglas:

yes. needs only be under the smocked part

Kathy:

like to use sheer over nice piece of medium weight

Kathy:

pleat together and smock

Sarah Douglas:

pleat little scraps onto silk and fray the sheer edges. smocking holds them together. fuzzy tree tops, clouds.

Sandy:

How about Lace, like English Netting lace.? Is it hard to handle?

Kathy:

depending on the treatment, if you're working with double layers same width, you can use long running stitch to hold together then pleat as you would any single layer

Sarah Douglas:

clip the running stitch when the stuff slides so you don't get lumps

Kathy:

yes

Sarah Douglas:

work right side up

Kathy:

yes

Sandy:

If I can't get my dupioni pleated this is my second choice for DD"s Christmas dress

Kathy:

as Sarah reminded, careful of the slubs

Sarah Douglas:

work very slowly. Gear side toward you. press folds so you can see how it

Sarah Douglas:

is going while there is still time to change things

GarFairies:

Sarah I have to thank you for writing the pleater manual it's become a classic with all of us who smock

Kathy:

yes Sarah, anytime anyone has questions, we refer them to your book

Sandy:

Yes believe it or not I have read mine. Just don't get everything.

Sarah Douglas:

welcome. it was fun doing it. read lesson 2 again, and 1.

Kathy:

having your resource handy when in the heat of the moment is most helpful

Sarah Douglas:

I'd just as soon no one invented another pleater. there isn't room to add much to that book

GarFairies:

what about a new 32 pleater

Sarah Douglas:

how many people do you know who smock bathtub cozies?

GarFairies:

we call that senseless smocking syndrome

Kay:

LOL

Sandy:

I have never understood those Christmas Balls

Sarah Douglas:

picture it, 64 rows around the outside, ruffles top and over the feet

GarFairies:

LOL

Kathy:

me, I'll smock anything I can't use lace or tucks with or on

Sarah Douglas:

christmas balls are good for testing things.

GarFairies:

I bet your husband is a very understanding man

Gina:

I thought maybe that's what Beth was doing with three yards! LOL

Sandy:

no time with a 2 year old

Kathy:

LOL

GarFairies:

you never know

Sarah Douglas:

bath tub cozy. yes

Sandy:

it has to work the first time or it goes on the shelf

GarFairies:

how come the 32 row pleaters don't work?

Sarah Douglas:

too big. too much play in the gears. lousy engineering and finishing

Sandy:

not enough hands

Kathy:

am confusing with another brand

GarFairies:

I heard it was the engineering in the middle

Gina:

what year did the pleater first show up?

Kathy:

32 rows is quite wide for consistency in pleats

Sarah Douglas:

That's it. My husband built me (maybe early 50s? I thought 40s but think now that it was later than that. He built me a 27 row, half inch spacing, 14" wide pleater, but it has two sets of gears that meet at the ends and are supported in the middle. But it could break all the needles at once. Did it in two pieces because that weight gear wouldn't stretch securely for the entire distance.  Still works. does not do tricks well.

Kathy:

sound logic

Sarah Douglas:

Kooistra is cutting the grooves in the center more shallowly in his pleaters now so they wont' skip as often in the middle

GarFairies:

it's so funny how things work

Kathy:

always take great care in rolling and pleating so that "control" feeding piece though is

Sarah Douglas:

he also hand finishes his needles so they will all behave the same way

Kathy:

as consistent as possible

Sarah Douglas:

I love fanatics!

Kathy:

well, it keeps down the snarls when smocking

Kathy:

also, the needles behave differently with fabrics and their textures

Sarah Douglas:

certainly do

Sandy:

do those little strawberry things help sharpen the needles

Kathy:

the needles grab or pierce different fabrics and "threads" differently

Sarah Douglas:

sharpen your needles. It never hurts

Kathy:

the longer stub cotton fabrics pleat more easily than others.  Yes, always use sharp needles whether pleating, smocking or embroidering or sewing

Sarah Douglas:

bends better, rather than having short thread ends sticking up

Kathy:

a dull needle on a sewing machine will cause a pull in a heart beat

Sarah Douglas:

probably one of the reasons liberty is so well behaved is the quality of the cotton

Kathy:

absolutely

Kathy:

they use the finer, longer stub cotton thread in their weaving

Sandy:

How can you tell what is a longer stubber cotton?

Kathy:

the finer the hand, the more easily it will pleat feel the fabric

Sarah Douglas:

the higher the price

Kathy:

the finer the cotton the more like silk it feels,

Sandy:

so stiff is bad

Kathy:

and Yes, LOL, the higher the price stiff is rotten has too much sizing in in it

Kathy:

or dye and usually does not have high quality thread count

Sandy:

What brand of solid cotton is good?

Kathy:

you can take a piece of say a Toyoba

Sandy:

The kind quilters use?

Kathy:

and crush it and it will hardly show a wrinkle

GarFairies:

Pima is the best that I know of

Kathy:

some of the quilting fabrics have too much sizing and dye

GarFairies:

but pima solids have a rep for not behaving, except Liberty

Kathy:

when you feel the fabric and it makes you want to melt

Sandy: Wash first? does this matter

GarFairies:

Washing is important because some fabrics have a formaldehyde finish
which is NOT good for humans to breathe in all the time. Soap and water gets rid of it.

Kathy:

Then you know its quality. I rarely wash fine quality fabrics

Sarah Douglas:

Not necessary on good stuff

Kathy:

depends on dye content, right, if you buy good stuff, it isn't necessary

Kathy:

usually, the only time I wash first is if I think the fabric might

GarFairies:

So Sarah what are you into these days

Kathy:

have high quantity dye content

GarFairies:

the last I heard you were pleating metal screen

Kathy:

and may, have tendency to "bleat"

Sandy:

I have always heard that the things fabric goes through you wouldn't want to have on your

Sandy:

body

Kathy:

this is especially good to know if you're going to use insert

Sarah Douglas:

yes, did a couple of smocked bags for Lark Books. One in silk, a serious one, and

Kathy:

or combine with light or pastel shade pieces

Sarah Douglas:

one in metal screen and one in plastic screen.

GarFairies:

I have yet to see that book, I bet they are cute

Sandy:

Or was that ready to wear garments.

Sarah Douglas:

Book called purses and bags maybe. Same editor as their new one, "creative smocking."  bags and purses won't be out for a while. CS is available very pretty. Lots of old SAGA names in it. Nellie Durand, Mimi Ahern & me.  So they paid me for stuff I did 10 years ago. great feeling

GarFairies:

that must have felt real great

Sarah Douglas:

stuff that was gathering dust.

Sarah Douglas:

anyone got any more questions for me or do I go back to my laundry?

GarFairies:

LOL

Kathy:

Sarah, really enjoyed the chat, thanks you for coming and sharing

GarFairies:

that history stuff is wonderful

Kathy:

your knowledge and personality with us

GarFairies:

I can't get enough of it

GarFairies:

oh I have a good one

Kay:

I have learned a great deal this evening. Thank you very much.

Sarah Douglas:

I've enjoyed it too.

GarFairies:

how is it that smocking has become so tight and bunched up

Gina:

Sarah, you have been most generous with us, THANKS!!!!

GarFairies:

I have some antiques where the smocking is relaxed - I know it's time that may have relaxed them
but I'm sure they didn't start out tight as todays

Sarah Douglas:

different styles. too much emphasis on stacked cables. and old stuff may

GarFairies:

I see that's a very good point. These have stitches that are primarily surface

Sarah Douglas:

have been american smocked. it is hard to smock that too tight.

Gina:

Beth, could it have been because the pleats were drawn up by hand?

GarFairies:

must have been, the pleater wasn't invented in the 20's or was it?

Gina:

that's what I wondered?

GarFairies:

so the invention of the pleater is responsible for the tight little pleats

Kathy:

wasn't commonly used until the 40s or later

GarFairies:

Something to ponder

GarFairies:

I think a lot has been lost with the invention of the pleater

Sarah Douglas:

No working pleaters until read. things that cooked pleats into damp fabrics sort of like

Sarah Douglas:

Mangles, but no working pleaters

GarFairies:

Judith Brandau wrote an article about smocking on a brick in Australia

Gina:

did they work on the "crank" method

Sarah Douglas:

no, actually we gained al lot. can't do curves very well by hand.

GarFairies:

I know but I was thinking of the styles of smocking

Sarah Douglas:

and there was the lucas pleater in australia. That was an interesting try.

Gina:

what was it like?

Sarah Douglas:

That wasn't the pleater. that was the fact that english was so much more efficient and the english ruled the world Lucas, you run string between the pleats, fasten it off at the ends. I have one. Haven't the patience to make it work

Gina:

What year, please?

Sarah Douglas:

After World War 2

Gina:

Sarah, thanks for an exciting chat!!!

GarFairies:

Really, you have been an angel to do this for us

Sarah Douglas:

Bye, people, it's been fun!

GarFairies:

Your words on the pleater have become gospel with all us smockers

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Here's the link to the handout that is mentioned in the chat.

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