It takes a village to dress a child

At least it takes a village to dress this child! This is a three person project. A friend started the smocking for a second friend that had twins about seven years ago. She sent it to her to finish. Well the girl had twins, she ran out of time. She discovers the UFO recently, finishes the smocking and sends it to me. I finished the construction. And that is the story of a well traveled UFO.

It is a cozy, warm, brushed twill probably from Heirloom Imports. (Funny thing is, I have this same print in a lawn in the "want to do" pile.) It is Chery Williams bishop smocked with floche. I don't know the name of the smocking plate.

I piped the neckline. Horror of horrors, I had to do it without my #10 foot!! After the workshop a couple weeks ago, I have lost my #10 foot. I about can't function without it. I had a heck of time making and attaching this piping without my favorite foot. One of the classes we took from Gail D. was Beautiful Bias. She has a great way to attach a prefinished bias to the neckline. I couldn't quickly figure out how to do it with the piping. So I will have to play with that some to work it out.

I have no idea what the original plan for the placket was, but I took out a few stitches on either side and made a full length placket down the back. That is the beauty of a bishop, it does have some forgiveness factor, especially in a heavier fabric. I had the leeway to do that and still have enough fullness to make it fit.

I used buttons from Hill Creek in a soft pink. I wanted to attach the buttons with the darker floche for contrast. Floche is a very soft twist fiber and I was afraid it wouldn't be able to withstand the wear and tear of a button in use. So I attached the button first with sewing thread and then ran the floche just through the holes on top covering the sewing thread. Perfect for the contrast without the need for sturdiness. Best of both worlds. The buttons really are on straight but they look wonky in this picture. It is probably the tulle under the dress to "puff it" for the picture that is making it hang cotcheyed.

So thank you Robin and Lori for your help in dressing this child. Hopefully we will have a model shot soon though I am sure we won't see baby girl today. The weather here has been horrid. My son is out there now trying to dig his mother out. Bless his heart, he is good to his momma!

Fall stitching

I didn't get this little bishop finished quite as quickly as I originally planned. Doesn't that happen to all of us? 

I used a combination of Scared-d-Cat and Octo-Bear, both by Little Memories. I didn't want specifically Halloween or Thanksgiving. So I went with a general fall theme.

The pattern is Children's Corner Bishop. I used a pima cotton called Kiwi Gingham from Bessie Mary.

Hopefully I will have a picture of our baby modeling her new bishop soon. I am onto Christmas sewing and finishing up convention projects. (The darker green around the center pumpkin is because the fabric is still wet where I spritzed out the blue marker. I'm delivering the dress within the hour and didn't have time to wait for it to dry completely.)

Ecru Bishop

I am going to apologize right off the bat, my photo taking mojo is not working at all today. Bad lighting, gray day. But all that aside, I finished up the flying bishop yesterday.  All in all it turned out okay. Not fancy, not special occasion but pretty. I am so glad I figured out how to pipe the neckline of a bishop. I really like that look. The cording I used is tee-tiny.

I rarely smock the sleeves but I did this time because I wanted the ecru lace. I usually finish them with a bias binding so I decided to step out this time. I had bought this as a kit. I replaced the white lace that came on it for ecru lace.

I also replaced the white buttons for antique mother of pearl buttons. The buttons didn't look ecru until I put them alongside the ecru smocking. So perfect. I wasn't going to add a snap at the neck but I may now that I see it gapping a bit in this picture.

I had a heck of a time getting decent pictures today. Still not totally happy with them. Could it be I was distracted

by this guy? Looks cute, doesn't he? NOT! He would never mow down those two weeds right in front of him, no siree bob! He will mow down mucho bucks worth of bedding plants though.

Here is his friend/sibling. They know I am not a fan, see that side eye look I am getting? Must be a teenager. Next on the agenda, a couple of quick gifts and then all of these dresses need slips. I have four slips to make. Then onto the gown I think.

The birdbath melted!... And other thoughts

 

Now this may not show the birdbath in all of its glory. The point here, that is water people!!!! Not the chunk of ice that has been present just way too long. Ahh, it is in the 60's today. It was just in the 30s a few days ago. Blessed relief. Please refer back to this joy of warmer temperatures when I am grumbling about the heat in August. I know that will come just as surely as scripture says "..and night followed day." So enjoy this musical and visual promise of spring to come.

And in other news...

A peek at some embroidery to bring baby home. Do you know how badly I want to rinse that blue marker out so I can enjoy the sweetness of it? Patience is not my long suit.

 

Tiny little rosebuds from one strand of floss and a tiny needle complete the smocked skirt. As soon as I get the sleeves and yoke embroidered it is onto construction. Stay tuned. 

And also stay tuned for a give away to celebrate 100+ followers. I feel like Sally Field, "You love me, you, really, really love me!" (Do you think she ever lived that down?) Give me a couple of days. Since I am feeling "pink" I think it will be a pink giveaway. Be watching.

Need some inspiration?

First posted by iveyc95

I got nothin! I don't have anything to share right now, so what do I do when I am procrastinating on what I should be doing? I surf; lucky for everyone involved it doesn't involve water, bathing suits(gasp), large fiberglass boards or wax.

I just love the above basic yoke dress. Something about that pink/gray feather wale corduroy that just makes me smile. Those hippos are too cute.

First posted by Time Really Does Fly

Cheryl just has a way with a bishop that I just adore. Every single time her bishops just look perfect to me. This one looks like cotton candy.

First posted by Angelasews 

 I have professed before that I am not much of a doll person, but this is just too cute. They navy/white combo looks so crisp and winter like to me. Her photography is great too.

 

First posted by anna fabó art

This needle artist is from Spain and she has a much different take on the usual smocked dress. I want to figure out how she does the sleeves. I think I could do it, but like trying a new restaurant, I don't think about it when I set out to do something new.

So faithful reader, hopefully I will have something to show and share soon.

A spring trip to the zoo

Finally a finished project to share. The little bubble is made from Daniel by Primrose Lane. Not sure who the fabric is by, I bought it from It's Sew Heavenly when I was in Lafayette LA during the summer. The plate is shown here. I bought the plate from Bessie Mary in Dallas. I get around ya'll!

It is a size 6 months, so it should be perfect for a little man's first spring trip to the zoo.

First posted by Primrose Lane

I am not sure if this designer is still selling from her site, but your favorite heirloom shop should have it. I love the look of this pattern but a few heads up.

First, I am not sure I would make it from 100% cotton again. Those little tabs are stitched down, so that makes it a challenge to iron. And this fabric needs ironing. The second hint is the yoke lining piece does not fit, so check it against your finished yoke before you cut out lining piece. Why is it when you get a collar you are happy with the stinking lining doesn't fit? Now if the collar had been jack legged that lining would have been perfect. Unfortunately the lining piece had to have the bottom serged and stitched down along the bottom of the insert. Not enclosing the bottom of the insert like I would have liked. And no I am not going to show you.

 

But if you like piping this is the one for you! Lots of piping. (And I can tell the side of that yoke needs the iron still.)

Off to pack for our next trip to Louisiana.

Ahhhhh, good to be home

Ten days is too long to be away from my own bed. Lets see where have I been? Over 2000 miles in the car, yes you read that right. We made a huge loop from the midwest through the mountains of West Virginia to the coast of both North and South Carolina, a fly by in south Georgia to drive up through the deep south back home. My bed felt like heaven on earth last night. We saw a lot, rode a lot, walked a lot, ate wayyy too much, and of course I stitched a lot in the car. Four of those days my husband worked all day.

If I had a driver everywhere I went, oh the stitching I would get done. The above picture was taken in the car as we drove through the mountains of Virginia. It was a test between three different flowers. I thought the flower on the right, the color was too bright, the flower on the left was way to pale so I settled on the color of the flower in the center. I used one strand of each of the other flowers to get the center one.

It reminds me of  Baskin- Robbins Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream.

I didn't just stitch in the car, I did lift my head and look out as well. And we stopped. I was a really bad photographer this trip.

We stopped at the New River Gorge and then drove to the bottom of the gorge. My husband nearly croaked when he looked back and saw how high the bridge was that we had driven over.  He is not a friend of heights.

But what a wonderful taste of autumn this was. We drove through the mountains of West Virginia. Even stopped for a quaint train festival in Hinton, WV.  Then it is back in the car and to North Carolina we head. No pictures taken there. I stitched in the hotel while he worked.

Down the coast we go, we stopped at Lee's Inlet Kitchen in Murrel's Inlet, SC for dinner. OMG, the hush puppies. We then get to Charleston and do the whirlwind tour of Charleston in two days. Take it from me, two days is not enough.

We started our whirlwind on a carriage tour, then we walked through some of the cemeteries, and up and down King Street and the old City Market. I bought a sweetgrass basket for a souvenir. For dinner we went to Hank's for dinner. FABULOUS! I highly recommend their shrimp and grits.

 

 

Day two we saved our feet a tiny bit by taking a pedi-cab down to the Battery and then walking back up to our hotel.

 

We toured the Calhoun Mansion and the Nathaniel Russell house.

The day was winding down but we did squeeze in the Old Exchange and the Provost's Dungeon, then walked the waterfront before we crawled back to rest before dinner at the historic restaurant, McCrady's. Wowzer, talk about fabulous!! I have raved about the heirloom tomatoes and house made buratta ever since and the corn bread pudding. Wonderful.  Kudos, there was no "George Washington Ate Here" sign even though it is a part of their storied history. The hostess was wonderful enough to hail another pedi cab for us because my feet were revolting by this point and were not going to make the mile walk back to the hotel by the end of the second long day.

Next morning we attended Mass at St. Mary's, the oldest Catholic Church in the Carolinas and Georgia. Beautiful. It made my heart sing to see all of those babies and children in smocking and heirloom sewing. On our way out of Charleston we stopped on John's Island to see the Angel Oak Tree.   Magnificent and humbling. And back in the car.

We traveled to south Georgia to see our oldest daughter. Too quick of a visit. Dinner was great, company even better. And yesterday we are in the car once again to trek home through 6 states to get home.

Of course being in the car I could work on my French Handsewn dress previewed here, here and here. I think I am going to dub this dress the "Car Dress" since so much of it has been stitched in the car.

 

It is almost finished.I have to gather and attach the ruffle  and sleeve lace, then do the embroidery. Then my first convention class project will be done.

I hope you enjoyed this little impromtu tour of the southeastern US. Hopefully I will be back with more stitching to share soon. Till then faithful reader.

Seamless Pleating Tutorial

Seamless Pleating Method #1

I am going to cover two methods of seamless pleating. I have used simple batiste because it was on my cutting table. And serendipitously there were two colors. At first I thought that would be a pain and then realized it was perfect. So it is two colors so you can better see where the seam would occur.

Seamless pleating can be used anywhere you need to combine two pieces of fabric and don't want the bulk or worse the "bump" of the seam to show for example a bishop or an insert for an older child that needs a tad more than 45" fabric to not look so s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d after construction. I know as Bunny commented on the butterfly bishop that you can push your French seam into the groove of the rollers as you pleat. For me, it works great for 3 out of 4 seams. Invariably the one seam it didn't work is on the front. Ticks me off every time. So I prefer seamless pleating.

And as always click on the pictures to enlarge.

Your first piece goes through the pleater as you would any other.

My first piece you can see has cleared the pleating rods.

Insert your second piece making sure that the tops are even, or in other words your top edge is lined up on the same location on the pleater rod. We often use the grooves in the rod as a landmark. Use the same groove for you second piece of fabric.

The two pieces after they have been taken off the pleater. Ignore the pleat "boo-boo" to the right. I was obviously not paying attention and must have pulled on it. See I even let you see my mess ups. I'm not proud.

Mark your seam allowance.

Choose the pleat closest to your seam allowance and mark the peak of the pleat. See what my pleating boo boo caused? That is how I know I must have been pulling on the fabric as it was feeding. Probably had the fabric between my thumb and forefinger right there at the center. But all that aside, this is a sample and I wasn't re-pleating it. Mark your peaks closest to your seam allowance.

I have pushed my pleats back together and you can see the pleat marked that signals my seam allowances.

Smock up to your seam, here my needle has pierced that LAST pleat I will stitch on my first piece of fabric.

Take your next stitch on the FIRST marked pleat of the second piece of fabric. Try your best to maintain a consistent tension. It will be a tad challenging since you are squeezing together 2-5 pleats. Don't fret it, trust me it will all come out okay.

Here I have completed the smocking. I know it is just 5 rows of cables but come on, I am just showing you, not stitching a masterpiece here. It is obvious on the left where the seam will be. On the right is the back of the piece.

Now remove your gathering threads. Take a deep breath, it is okay! Wait for the magic.

Voila! Look at that seam allowance pop up there as if by magic I tell ya!

Flip it over and your stitches look even. If the colors of the fabric didn't change you wouldn't be able to tell there was a break there. It is that easy. Now go back and stitch a seam on your marked seam allwance. Get as close as you can without stressing over it. You smocking is going to maintain your seam allowance.

Seamless Pleating Method #2

Again I have used two different color fabrics for better illustration. Mark the seam allowances on your pieces. Begin feeding first piece of fabric through the pleater normally being more careful than I was in the previous example to feed evenly and slowly enough to control it but not so slowly you wear yourself out before you get to the fun part.

When you come to the end of the second piece it should like the picture above.

Pull the piece OFF of the pleater. Relax, it will be okay, I promise. Pull your gathering threads out of the seam allowance. Leave gathering threads on the front.

DO NOT RE-THREAD YOUR PLEATER YET. Begin feeding second piece of fabric making sure again to have the top lined up with the same groove you used as a landmark on your first piece.

Here is the part you can't get too zealous or you will get ahead of yourself. Feed the fabric slowly onto the UNTHREADED needles, smooth out the seam allowance. Turn your pleater handle just enough to get your fabric to the end of the needles without going off.

Carefully without bending your needles or pulling too hard on your fabric, clear the fabric off of the needles just up to your marked seam allowance. Stand up straight and take a deep breath and stretch your neck. Remember to breath.

NOW re-thread your pleater needles being careful to keep them in the same order. How do I know that this is important you ask? You will have a hot mess if you rethread the needles in a random order and not the one that matches your first piece of fabric. Trust me, been there, done that.

Continue to feed your next piece of fabric. See how the seam allowance has fallen to the back allowing your fabrics to meet up and kiss? If you are doing a bishop you will repeat this process for all four seams. I think it is worth it.

This is the two pieces off the pleater. No visible seam.

Turn it over and there is your seam allowance waiting for you. You can go ahead and stitch your seams now if you want.

To finish the raw edges of your seam allowance you can roll and whip it by machine, finish it with a zig zag or do a mock French seam.

To do a mock French seam, stitch your seam with a straight stitch close to your smocking. Then trim one side of the seam allowance to 1/8". I fold the second side of the seam allowance over half way, fold again letting the folded edge meet the machine stitching of your straight stitched seam, making sure to encase the seam allowance you trimmed to 1/8". Whip stitch down.

I hope this helps you. Try it and see if you like it.