Smocked Bishop dress and a card

A wonderful young woman with a love of old fashioned needle arts is in my knitting group. She recently gave birth to a daughter and while pregnant, commented on her love of smocked garments which aren't prevalent in this area, in this era.

Once upon a time I would have bought Imperial Batiste and gathered the fabric on my own smocking pleater.

Quality fabric is important when running it through a pleater. Joann's is fine for many things, but this level of quality isn't found in their yard goods. I suspect my long unused pleater may need new needles before tackling another project and they would need to be ordered. The needles are fine and if you run roughshod through the process of turning the pleater wheel, they will crunch and break. Not good, not good at all.

Thank goodness I discovered Meredith's Closet, an Etsy shop of ready to smock items. I order a 12 month size dress in a color called Butter. I pulled out my stash of long unused smocking designs which are called 'plates' rather than patterns. This is not the design I used, but is a sample of what a plate looks like.

Before I could begin to smock, the center of all those pleats had to be found. Each pin represents 10 pleats. The threads you see are gathering threads, usually quilting weight threads that are tied off on either side of the area to be smocked.

Here you see the pleats both scrunched up and spread out. The pleats should slide easily on the gathering threads. Smocking is worked from the left side of the garment to the right, but the needle enters the top of the pleat from right to left.

Reading the plate came easily to me when I learned to smock because I was accustomed to counted cross stitch and knitting charts.

The color is a bit off (too strong) in this photo, but shows the completed dress with a deep hem which is traditional in these dresses.

Here is a close up of the smocking itself. I was pleased with how it turned out, and more importantly, the mommy who received this dress was very happy.

The that I made to accompany this gift was another tri-shutter card. I seem to be stuck on them lately but they have been turning out well and use a variety of cute scraps and embellishments.

 





Another Blue Monday

Smiling Sally's Blue Monday posts are such a nice way to start the week, especially for those of us who love blue.

Before we start, has everyone had breakfast? I like blue with white, or blue with yellow. Here we have both thanks to scrambled eggs, milk, and blue glass dishes.


My fondness for glass and my collection addiction are my husband's fault. I can get away with blaming him since he doesn't read here. This little blue bull started it all way back when we were dating. There was a shop with a glass blower that would always stop me in my tracks as I watched the artist make fascinating things. Bill bought this bull to keep me company while he was away in the service.

I think he cost all of $2 way back then, but he still one of my most valuable pieces. Sentimental could be my middle name.

This is a little difficult to see well because of the angle. This sampler is smocked on yellow batiste and matted in blue. Somewhere around twenty years ago I took an evening class through community education to learn to make a smocked Christmas ornament. That led to more classes and one of the best friendships anyone could hope to find between the instructor and myself. This sampler had gone from living room to bedroom and back the living room as decor has changed over the years.


The teacup collection isn't my fault either. Really. Some where my mother-in-law's, and a few were bought specifically because they reminded me of my mom. Before we painted the house the last time around, I had dark blue paint on the wall behind the teacup rack. Not the whole wall, just that area. After painting the walls yellow again, I decided to use scrapbook paper as a back drop for the teacups. I like the idea, but next time I change it, I will use fabric.


This blue bowl was an impulse purchase a few months ago. Did I need another bowl? We won't go into that. It isn't microwave safe, but it does have a silicone ring in the base that keeps it from sliding on the counter. I bought it because it looked lonely on the clearance rack (see why I don't go near pet stores?) and I liked the color. I've been surprised how much I use it. Bill doesn't care about the bowl, but he does like what the bowl produces!