Two Points Kids spend a lot more time in sweats than they do in our meticulously stitched finery. Here, Janet Gilbert shows you how to get more mileage out of your smocking by adding an insert to a ready-made knit. Don t stall at basketball; smocking motifs are seemingly endless, and if you re really pressed for time, check out the Cyber Smocking article on page 66. Design: Adding a Smocked Insert to a Ready-made Knit IN THE ARTICLE Materials List Construction Using Insert ON THE CENTERFOLD Smocking Graph and Instructions By Janet Gilbert Ta k e a t i m e -out a n d i n s e r t y o u r s m o c k i n g i n t o a r e a d y -m a d e s w e a t s h i r t. It l l b e a s u r e w i n n e r! 48 Sew Beautiful September/October 2008 MATERIALS LIST Purchased sweatshirt (navy blue shown) Ready-made piping (one package) Thread to match piping Thread to match sweatshirt 6-inch square German interfacing 1/2 yd navy blue Kona cotton (insert and lining) Lace-shaping board Wash-away Wonder Tape by Dritz Wash-away marking pen or chalk marker Soft pencil Sharp scissor DMC perle cotton (black #8) DMC Six-strand Embroidery Cotton (see graph on centerfold for floss list)
CONSTRUCTION NOTE: My insert measured 3-3/4-inches across and 3-1/2-inches vertically. Yours may be slightly different. 1. Block smocking so that it is perfectly square. Steam and dry. WS - shirt 4. Mark insert placement on wrong side of sweatshirt with vertical and horizontal center lines. Press edges under 7. Turn sweatshirt right side out. Press seam allowances to back creating a window for smocked insert. Fuse interfacing WS - shirt Topstitch 2. Baste piping to each edge of insert using Wonder Tape. Remove cording from seam allowances so that cords meet at corners, then machine stitch piping using a grooved foot getting as close as possible to cord using thread to match piping fabric. Size of insert 1/2 Cutting line 5. With sticky side of interfacing facing wrong side of sweatshirt, align vertical and horizontal center lines of sweatshirt to vertical and horizontal lines on interfacing square. Fuse interfacing to sweatshirt. Clip Stitch 8. Place Wonder Tape around piping on right side of insert. Place smocked insert inside of window on sweatshirt aligning edges of piping to edges of sweatshirt window. Double check that design is straight. Topstitch insert to sweatshirt along fold edges of opening with matching thread (I double topstitched the edges). Interfacing 3. Mark vertical and horizontal centers on a 6-inch square of German interfacing. Mark rectangle on interfacing centering measurement of insert from piping edge to piping edge vertically and horizontally on non-sticky side. Draw a line on German interfacing 1/2-inch inside of outside rectangle. Cut out 6. Stitch along outer lines with a 1.5 stitch length and cut out along inside lines. Clip each corner to, but not through stitching. About the Designer Janet Gilbert is a smocking designer from Vienna, Illinois and loves to design and sew for her daughter. She is a commissioned designer for Sew Beautiful and often contributes her own designs in the magazine. She is an active member of SAGA (the Smocking Arts Guild of America). FINISH Turn sweatshirt inside out and trim seam allowances to neaten. To ensure there is nothing scratchy inside the sweatshirt, cut a lining out of cotton fabric, fold edges to wrong side and hand whip over insert to cover seams. SB www.sewbeautifulmag.com 49
TWO POINTS SMOCKING INSTRUCTIONS DMC Six-strand Embroidery Cotton #3842 dk wedgewood (border and square on backboard) #415 pearl gray (backboard) #920 md copper (basketball) #947 burnt orange (basketball rim) #3866 ultra v lt mocha (net and team name) #336 navy blue (backsmocking) INSERT PREPARATION 1. Pleat a 4-1/2- x 22-inch navy blue Kona cotton insert with 10 full-space rows. (NOTE: To make two inserts, pleat a 4-1/2- x 45-inch piece of fabric and divide in half). 2. Unpick pleats on one side to make a 1-inch seam allowance. Count 64 pleats and unpick unused pleats. Tie off the 64 pleats to 4-inches. Excess seam allowance is left on for handling while smocking and will be trimmed down later. 3. Top and bottom rows are holding rows. Backsmock Rows 1-8 with a cable stitch using two strands of matching floss. Additional backsmocking will be needed after picture smocking is completed (see smocking step 4). 4. Mark center valley pleat on insert with a small safety pin or contrasting thread. SMOCKING INSTRUCTIONS All picture smocking is done with four strands of floss. Backboard square is two strands of #3842. Lines on basketball are backstitches from one strand of black Perle cotton. Basketball rim and net are six strands un-stripped floss-straight from skein. Team name is six strands stripped. Rim is 35-wrap bullion from six strands. 1.Begin smocking design on Row 4, 20 pleats to left of center. Stitch a half down cable over one pleat. Follow graph for stitch count working up completing back of backboard. Note all color changes on graph. 2. Turn insert over and complete backboard and basketball. 3. Stitch lines on backboard square and basketball. 4. Backsmock: Sometimes smocking stitches on a picture design all end on the same line or as I call it a wall. In this design, this occurs on the basketball backboard. Even though the area has been backsmocked, the pleats between the backboard and the insert still gap. A solution to this problem is to add a little extra backsmocking after picture smocking is complete. a. On the half row, start at two pleats on either side of the backboard and stitch five cable stitches. b.to minimize distortion, if the backstitch above is a down cable then start stitching with a down cable or vice versa. You can either tie off between cable rows or jump down to the next half row. 5. Stitch basketball rim and net after all picture smocking has been completed and lines on backboard and basketball have been stitched. Work 35-wrap bullion from six strands of un-stripped #947 (burnt orange). See photo on page 48 for placement. The bullion rim will be couched down after net has been stitched. 6. Stitch net using a series of lazy daisy stitches and six strands of un-stripped #3866 (ultra v lt mocha). 7. Start with six pieces of floss about 10-inches long. It is easier to use six needles but you can just use three needles and rethread the floss.
8. Underneath bullion rim, stitch six lazy daisy stitches (fig. 1). 9. Working left to right, stitch five lazy daisy stitches below first row (fig. 2). Note the last lazy daisy stitch (in black). Bring thread to front to hold loop. After second row is stitched take thread to back and tie off. 10. Continue stitching rows of lazy daisy stitches, working one fewer lazy daisy with each row (fig. 3). 11. After basketball net has been stitched, couch down bullion rim with one strand of floss (fig. 4). C Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4
sleveless pascale The Pascal pattern by Laura Jenkins Thompson was originally published in Sew Beautiful Issue #114 Sept/Oct 2007. Ice Princess ( Pascal sleeveless variation) appears in Sew Beautiful #120 Sept/Oct 2008. Refer to instructions and illustration below for pattern alterations for a sleeveless Pascale. Pattern Alteration Instructions Reduce shoulder 1/4" from outer edge (Point A) (for a size 3-5). For larger sizes, mark 1/2". Raise armhole 1/4-inch (point B) (for a size 3-5). For larger sizes, come up 1/2". Reduce side seam at top 1/4" (point C) (for a size 3-5). For larger sizes, reduce 1/2". Redraw arm curve intersecting at the original notch on the pattern. Repeat changes for bodice back. 1/4 1/4 Pascale Bodice www.sewbeautifulmag.com 1