maggiebsmocks

Smocking and Heirloom Supplies

Hey everyone. Travel season is upon us. I thought it might be fun to build a list of smocking and heirloom shops from around the country. It is always worth going a little out of the way to shop from one of our heirloom sisters.

If you have a shop near you (or not so near) please drop a comment here and I will build the list. I will edit it as I get more names and locations. If you own a shop, please let me know and I will add you to the list. 

Thanks a Bunch!

maggieb!

Video Tour of the 50th Woodlawn Needlework Exhibition

I am often asked about pictures of the Exhibition. Photography is not allowed by the public but the press does come in occassionally.

Here is your opportunity to see just a peek of the Woodlawn Needlework Exhibition!

I was involved with a video created for Voice of America in March. Bear in mind this is not in English, however you will see the House, the furniture and the needlework.

Woodlawn Needlework Video

 

Enjoy!

maggieb!

Sewing at the Beach, January 2014

    Once again I have been invited to teach smocking at Sewing at the Beach. It is a wonderfully relaxing week of sewing mixed with watching the waves crash onto the shore. I know I have it written down somewhere as to the exact dates but I can not put my finger on it. I do know it is mid January.

sneak peek!

Based on the line up, I suspect a full house again this year!

sew excited!!!!

maggieb!

 

 

Sewing Sisters

Dear Friends, PLEASE take the time, effort and yes, money to GO SEW with your sisters! You will never regret taking the time to do it for yourself. TRUST ME!

The SAGA Retreat in April presented a fence for me. I registered early. I was excited about the time away. However, a personal situation had me on the fence up until just 3 days before I was to leave. Thank goodness I have a husband who was willing to push me off the fence. By the second day, I stopped checking my phone every hour. I was starting to relax. Turns out, time away WAS just what I needed.

I needed to see friends. I needed to make new friends (hi, Jenn!). I needed to sit and sew. I needed buttons (thanks, Jeannie!) I needed time alone.

Jeannie has a lovely blog post about the weekend. You can see my daygown work in her fabulous class: mine is the one with hands measuring from the neck edge. How did my hands get so old looking?

SOOOOO....

It is time to register for Convention in Frisco TX with the Smocking Arts Guild of America (SAGA). Registration opens May 1.

Even if you can not attend every day, you can still go! That is one of the best things about SAGA Convention! You can pick and choose which classes and days you want to attend. If you are in the local area but can't get away from life for classes, you can still shop! (See note above about Jeannie and her buttons.) Market is Friday afternoon and is free to visit. Well, free as in there is no cover charge, not free if you shop.

Ladies, take time to commune with your Sewing Sisters. It is good for your soul as well as your sewing skills.

Smock on!

maggieb!

Avery's Wee Care Bonnet, Free Instructions!

When I returned home from the SAGA Retreat on Sunday I had a request for a Wee Care gown for a 34 week baby girl, born at just over 4 pounds.

I was too tired to sew Sunday night but I did manage to pull fabrics and start Praying Over Baby. 

I like to send two different sizes when possible since patterns are iffy and baby weight can fluctuate in the first few weeks. So I made the SAGA Stitches gown, 3/4 pound size, in Martha Pullen's Victorian batiste in the peachy color.

Yep, that is the full size. It always takes me aback just a bit when I finally see one put together. It IS tiny. 

I used the Martha Pullen Victorian 6" wide edging for the yoke decoration.  

I just used it as an overlay and trimmed it to fit.

I also made a tiny WEE CARE bonnet from the 6" edging. This is EASY PEASY!

1. Cut 12" - 13" length of 6" wide Victorian edging.

2. Press in 3/8" on each short end, then turn half of that under and press for a narrow hem at each side.

3. Stitch side hems in place.

4. Press in a fold about 1" behind the decorative embroidery, right sides together.

5. Machine stitch 1/4" away from the fold.

6. Press fold to the front.

7. Press 1/2" to the wrong side at the back edge. Turn half of  that under forming a 1/4" tunnel for the back ribbon.

8. Machine stitch in place close to the folded edge.  

9. Cut 2 lengths of 1/8" - 1/4" ribbon, 18" - 20".

10. Weave 1 ribbon through each of the folds.

 

 

 

11. Gently pull up the ribbons to form the bonnet shape.   

12. This is fully adjustable both at the front and sides for better fit.

That is a 3oz. cup supporting the softball size form.

The larger gown is for a 5# - 6# baby.  

It is a variation of a layette gown from vintage book. 

It is simple, with just a touch of French cotton lace at the sleeve edges and hem.

I slightly gathered the lace just to keep it from cupping under as it was sewn with a roll and whip to the edges. I learned that little trick from Lyn Weeks. 

So off they go to comfort Avery's parents who must be worried sick. I hope Praying Over Baby as I made these help ease their fears.

I PROMISE to write about the SAGA Retreat later! Now I need to put away my sewing supplies from travelling and sewing.

Smock on, Friends!

maggieb!

SAGA Retreat!

WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

I so need to commune with friends right now!

 

Smock on!

maggieb!

Woodlawn Needlework Exhibition Comes to a Close

WHEW!

We made it to the Golden Anniversary of the oldest and largest Needlework Exhibition in America. 

Four years ago, I set my sights on the 50th Show.  I knew it would be my last Show as organizer. 

I am thrilled to say we had record attendance and income. THANK YOU stitchers who shared your work with the public. THANK YOU Volunteers who worked more hours than anyone cares to count. THANK YOU, Woodlawn for hosting the event.

I have met many fabulous people in the past fifteen years working on the Show. I am fortunate to call many of you FRIENDS. You have enriched my life in many, many ways. Thank you.

 

Keep stitching and sharing!

maggieb!

 

GEOMETRY

Suzanne sent the following into my comment box.

I'm "new" to pleating but not smocking and I happened on your page.  I am sort of hardheaded and started out with a bishop gown for our soon to be granddaughter.  I have read and reread your instructions plus all the books I have on pleating but I'm still having problems with "getting it straight"....especially when I get to a seam, I think I'm straight and then when I'm finished and have the fabric off the needles, my seams have a twisted look to them.  I'm pretty much a perfectionist when it comes to my hand work but I have about decided if I could "cover" it up, I'd just move on.  It seems when I get to the seam, the curved part of the armhole is what throws everything off.  I may have to many spaces for such a small item of clothing. I think I have 7 spaces (I'm at work and don't actually have it in front of me) Any suggestions?

Congratulations on a soon to be grand daughter! May I ask, what bishop pattern are you using?

The pleater is a very basic, mindless machine. It counts on you to be the brains of the operation.

I am sending you back to Math Class! The pleater forms a right angle with the groove for the needle being one side of the angle and the horizontal groove on the bar the second side of the right angle.

The fabric forms a right angle with the straight edge of the fabric (top edge of the bishop) and the selvage edge. 

Therefore, the straight selvage is fed straight into the pleater rollers with the top edge of the bishop (or any piece being pleated) along one needle groove.

The key is to keep the top edge perfectly aligned with one single needle groove. I turn the handle with my right hand, needles facing me, controlling the fabric feed with my left hand. I have to control the fabric. The dowel will keep the fabric out of the way, but it in no way keeps the fabric feeding straight.

By the time you get to the first seam, and each subsequent seam, you should still be feeding straight. Remember to tuck that fine seam into the groove!

You mentioned the CURVE being the problem. There are old patterns out there that aren't pleater friendly. There should be a straight line for the shoulder, curving only at the bottom for the underarm. (Remember the right angles!) Pleating only goes in the straight section, not into the curve. 

Can you see the straight section at the right hand side and then that curve? The straight section is the only part that goes into the rollers. 

Depending on the size you are pleating, this might be as little as 3 or 4 full spaced Rows up to 8 -10 Rows. It depends on YOUR pattern and the size.

I hope this helps. If not, remember to practice. Like anything else, you will get better  every time you pleat. And with a baby girl on the way, you are likely to get lots of practice!

 

Smock on!

maggieb!

How to Prepare a Sewing Room for a Move

Debi at Nordic Needle asked this question for her newsletter. As many of you know, we are going to be moving (eventually). After looking for three years, we purchase property in the Shenandoah. Lew walked the lot this past weekend after having it surveyed again. Now to figure out the plans and pick a builder. Which could be harder than finding the land. But I digress.

Here are the tips I sent to Debi. She wrote me back to say how she hadn't thought of number one. In my opinion, that is the toughest, the heart and mind. The sewing rooms are our refuge.

ETA: These are the PREPARATIONS for moving, not the actual packing ideas. There are great packing ideas in the comments. 

1. Prepare yourself mentally. Go in like a bull in the china shop heading for the back door, head down and focused. You are going to find things you thought you lost, things that have special memories etc. Now is NOT the time to reminisce. Deal with it and move on.

2. Touch it once. PERIOD. Have a DONATE and a TRASH box near you and I mean at your side, not out in the hallway so you have to pick things up to move (touch) them again.

3. Focus.  Do just one thing at a time. I tend to put on music, fairly loud, to drown out the outside world.

• Threads. Gather them all up and face them head on. This includes lots of brands and types. Separate them by type (floss, wool, perle cotton etc). I like the IRIS scrapbooking storage towers for my threads. The boxes are 12” x 12” and are corralled into a molded tower. IMPORTANT: those half skeins of floss, especially those missing color labels, TOSS THEM. You are never going to use them and no one else will either. The collection of thread you bought but found out you really didn’t like to use: put them all in a plastic zip bag and DONATE them. (This one took me 3 or 4 days, working several hours a day.)

• Fabrics. I am a sewist so I fold all of my fabric using the ruler method for uniform sizes and shapes. However, ruler folding is time consuming. IF YOU HAVE TIME: do it. Build a donate pile as you work. If not, for now, just pull out the pieces you know you can part with. You know, the orange polyester Aunt Maris gave you when you started to sew back in 1972. If that is all you have left of Aunt Maris, cut a 4” X 4” swatch, pin it to your bulletin board to look at every now and then to remember her. DONATE THIS because there is someone out there who wants to make a vintage jumper for Halloween. SCRAPS: let them go. Toss the pieces too small to use and donate the rest in a zipped bag. TRUST ME: once you toss a 3” X 2” scrap, it gets easier to toss the 4” X 6” scrap. (I started folding several years ago and now fold as I get new pieces. I am due for another purge.)

• Trims. As heirloomers,  I think we are the queens of trims. We have everything from the finest French laces to 1.5" wide rick rack. I have turned to scrap booking shelving and jars for the nonlace trims. They look so pretty!

•  Patterns/Charts. One by one select those you really want to keep and those you can donate. The ones missing pages are safe to toss. If you have time, you can organize these by subject matter, designer, whatever makes sense to YOU.

• Books. Keep the ones you refer to, let the rest go. There are many people who will find your books useful. Sending books to the local thrift shop may inspire someone to try their hand at stitching.

• Notions. Oh my. You know those needles that have a slight bend or a bit of rust, toss them. I understand they are small, not occupying too much space, but let them go. It will save you time the next time you are hunting for a needle. Put these in a container with a lid so the trash man doesn’t get poked with your old rusty needle.

• Equipment. You can let the leaky iron go. If it still works as a dry iron, donate it. If the dog chewed through the cord, toss it.

• ETA: UFOs. Gather them all up (and I mean ALL!) and face that demon. If you are going to finish it, keep it. If not, donate the kit or break it down into parts and store them with like parts. I give you permission to do this. Seriously, you may have taken a class and learned the lesson from that teacher. Now it is ok to let the kit go. Or you started a project and just don't like it for one reason or another. Trust me, you aren't going to like it any more after the move. Let it go!

             You see the general idea here. Work one section at a time in a focused manner. It has taken you years to accumulate all of this ‘stuff’. It will take a bit of time to go through it.

            Set up the new space with furniture and shelving first. As you unpack, start with two boxes at your side: trash and donate. Trust me, you will be willing to let a few more things go. Only bring those things into your space you want to use.

 

Smock on,

maggieb!

 

 

How to Let the Hem Down on Smocked Dresses

FROM THE COMMENT SECTION:

Speaking of hem treatments... I have some hand smocked dresses that were mine as a child. My daughter is taller and leaner than I was and the dresses that fit her now are too short. They have a deep hem (6"or so). I've seen some recommendations for removing hem, washing dress, then pressing and repinning to hem again. Is this the best way? My mom seems to recall being taught to put pleats in the hem to conceal the original hem? I can't find anything on it.
Thank you! :)

Commenter name: Jen

Jen, how lucky you are to see your daughter in your childhood dresses! 

 

Here are a few options to try when letting down the hem of a dress. Factors to consider are the fabric content, amount of wear at the hem (line and fade mark) and function.

Before trying any of these, I suggest the vinegar treatment. Dampen a clean white cloth (I like to use an old fashioned cloth diaper) with white vinegar. Dab the hemline with the vinegar cloth. Steam iron over the seam. Sometimes this is enough to remove the fold line and the first trick below is enough.

1. Let the hem down by half, restitching the hem on the original fold line. For instance, a 6" hem is now a 3" hem. This works if there is no damage to the dress by fading or stitching marks.

2. Let the hem down and sew a decorative trim over the previous fold line. You are in luck that rick rack and lacey trims are in fashion. This helps update the look of dresses while you are at it. Maybe add a touch of the trim to the sleeve or neckline too?

3. Let the hem down and sew a decorative stitch over the previous fold line. Modern sewing machines have built in decorative stitches that might work here. You could do tone on tone or make it contrasting for added interest.

4. Let the hem down and sew a series of pintucks with a double needle. One line will go over the fold line and one above and one below the original line. Hem at the length you want.

5. Create a tuck in the hem enclosing the fold mark in the hem. Again, this adds interest while taking care of a problem.

6. If you really need a lot of length, you can remove the hem completely and add trim to the bottom edge. A simple bias binding would be acceptable or a nice eyelet edging.

I hope one of these tips works for you and your mom. Try to find a picture of yourself in the dress and take a picture of your daughter in it too. Hang them side by side for fun.

 

Smock on!

maggieb!