maggiebsmocks

PT asked Where to Buy Smocking Dots

Can you help me find transfer dots for hand-pleating?  I made a little smocked dress 40 years ago for my daughter. Now, I am using the same pattern to make the same dress for a granddaughter.  Unfortunately, the transfer dots are lost.  I don't trust myself to mark the dots with a pencil. I expect to do 6 rows of pleating. This is for a size 1.
Thank you,
Priscilla Taylor

 

Priscilla, how exciting to get to smock the same pattern for your granddaughter!

 

I found a couple sources for smocking dots. The brand name is Knott's Dots.

The Smocking Bonnet

Creative Smocking 

Remember to iron the dots on the wrong side of the fabric just incase they don't wash out completely.

 

Smock on!

maggieb!

Rainbow Connection

Rainbow parties seem to be the big hit these days. My friend, Stephanie, had a colorful party for her daughter's 4th birthday this past weekend. You can see how much love and care Stephanie pours into every. single. detail of her parties. 

I wanted to make MissS a rainbow skirt to go with her rainbow shirt from AmyT.

Being me, I can't take things quite too literally, so I designed a skirt based on roy g biv.

I started out with a selection of ginghams. I took a deep breath and sucked it up that they were not all exactly the same size squares. This was not easy for me, but I pushed through.

 

 

 

I dug out a bunch of rick racks and various colorful trims and tossed them on the gingham stack. However none of them seemed just right. Instead, I made a very long strip of fabric with the orange gingham on one side and the yellow gingham on the opposite side. I sewed the strips together, end to end then on top of each other. I think I ended up with 3 44" widths X 2.5" X the two colors. 

I stitched them together then turned them right side out. Then I started to ruche the strip. I don't know if you can see it in the picture here but there was a nice little peek a boo of the yellow from under the orange strip.

The red panel was doubled and folded in half to allow for the casing and the top of the lining. (9" X 40") I used 2X (20") the waist for the red panel.

2X the red panel for the green, blue (4 " X 80") and 6" X 80" for the navy.

I sewed the g,b,n panels together with a 1/4" seam allowance, pressed up and topstitched in place.

I pleated (yes, with my pleater) the top of the green panel and the bottom of the navy panel for easy gathering.

I stitched the green to the outside layer of the red with a regular seam. 

Then I sewed a casing for the waistband and inserted 1" elastic in the casing.

 

 

To make the skirt bubble, I sewed a 9" long X 40" wide piece of white batiste into a tube. I sewed the bottom of the navy to the batiste, gathering the 2:1 ratio navy to plain fabric. I pressed under 1/2" on the remaining red section. Then I pinned the two red layers together, sandwiching the batiste inside the seam and  top stitched all those layers together. This is under the ruching. 

Unfortunately, the skirt turned out a little long for MissS but she didn't seam to mind. I suspect she will be wearing this same skirt for the next five years. Mama said she liked it so I guess that is all that matters.

Happy 4 finger Birthday, my little rainbow girl!

maggieb!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the winner is....:

We all belong to groups that sell tickets to 'things' to raise funds. We are expected to buy the tickets in order to support the organization. It is all a part of 'paying your dues'. So, we buy our tickets. Year after year. 

 

Every now and then, WE are the lucky ones. I am such a lucky one this time.

At SAGA Convention in October my friend, Wanda, won a beautiful gold thimble. Her reaction was priceless. I think she liked it!

*I* coveted the Crazy Quilt. I put tickets in that box every time I went in the Hospitality Suite. And then I bought more tickets to put in that box and a couple new baskets that arrived late in the Convention.

    So imagine my surprise when my name is called for the quilt! Needless to say, our little corner of the room was shining from the smiles on our faces.

    The quilt was made by the Puget Sound SAGA Chapter.

Each person made a square and signed it.

Notice the beautiful use of beading, buttons and charms.

I love the smocking on some of the squares.

There are yo-yos, ruching and other creative uses of ribbons.

They included a document about each square tucked into a pocket on the back. We, as needle artists, know the importance of including provenance in such works of art.

This final picture is a single piece made into a small coverlet for a pillow.

Needless to say, I am thrilled to have this work of art in my home.

 

I think I should start to buy lottery tickets, because....

 

I am a member of the Nelly's Needlers a local group of women who have joined together to support Woodlawn, The National Trust for Historic Preservation's original property. One group within the Nellys makes a quilt every year to raffle. This past year we sold just a few shy of 6 thousand tickets. In all 35 years of the Nellys, no Nelly has ever won the quilt.

The drawing for the quilt is at our January meeting every year. I was sitting in the back stitching on MissEm's wedding hanky, not paying too much attention to the drawing. 6K tickets? I bought about 35 tickets. I knew my chances were close to nil. So imagine my surprise when everyone in the room turns around to look at me...

 

Each Nelly was given a basket on the muslin backing and asked to create her own vision of a Basket of Flowers. These are person, 3-D, stunning baskets, each one.

Here I am with dear, sweet little Thelma Barr, the leader of the quilting group. I am almost 5' tall, so you see how tiny she is. I will take pictures of the individual baskets to show you. 

 

Once again, I am blessed to have sewing treasure from people that are important to me.

 

How lucky am I?

 

maggieb!