Browse Author by Terry Poskay
I am the mother of two grown daughters, living in Central New Jersey. I've been sewing for almost 50 years and I discovered smocking and heirloom sewing after my daughters were born. They were my source of inspiration and I loved designing and making new dresses for them. I'm a member of the Smocking Arts Guild of America and a member of my local chapter, Keystone Smockers. I'll be posting lots of ideas and tips to share these beautiful needle arts so stop by often! I'm also opening an Etsy shop and I plan to sell patterns and kits. Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter.
Construction, Sewing Techniques

A BIAS TUTORIAL – THE DETAILS MATTER

It’s the annual mad rush to clean out the freezer to make room for the beef quarter coming next week.  So that means pulling out all the chicken carcasses, the chuck steaks and the beef bones I’ve been saving to can some soup and stew.  I spent all day yesterday roasting soup bones and the steaks and making the stock.  Today I chopped and prepped and jarred up the stew.

 

Of course yesterday I nicked the top of my index finger with the knife while cutting up the steaks.  It hurts because it’s right at the tip of my finger.  Now, you might be asking what does this have to do with sewing or smocking.  Well, the cut is on my left finger….and that is my stitching hand.  That little cut put me out of commission all weekend for any kind of stitching.  Very annoying!  You  see, even though I’m left handed, I cut with my right hand…a little quirk that lefties usually demonstrate trying to adjust in a rightie dominated world.

 

Since I can’t sew anything to blog about, I thought I would give a quick tutorial on working with bias strips to make piping.  Specifically, how to stitch gingham or plaid bias strips together seamlessly.

 

Sometimes you want to make a long piece of piping or bias trim, but the size of the fabric you have won’t allow you to cut such a long enough strip on the bias.  The solution is to cut several bias strips and match the plaids when you stitch them together.  I am working on a new doll dress pattern called the Red Checked Picnic Dress.  It’s a version of the dress I made for the Doll’s Day Out fundraiser I talked about here.  I’m still tweaking the pattern but I can show you the bias process.  The width of the fabric that I had leftover for bias strips wasn’t wide enough to make one seamless strip for the belt.

 

The first step is to plan where the seams will be placed.  I didn’t want a seam right in the middle on the front of the dress so I pieced 3 strips together.  This pushes the seams over to the sides making it less noticeable.

 

I chose 3 strips and made sure the design was going in the right direction.  This was a woven check, so the right and wrong sides look the same.

 

Then I slid one strip over the other until the two blended in.  It looked like one continuous strip.  If this is a plaid, make sure all the lines and colors are in the proper order along the whole length.  If you look closely you can see the selvage edge on the top strip.  Other than that the two blend together.

 

 

Without lifting the bias from the table, fold the end of the top strip under along one of the lines in the check or plaid. Finger press to make a crease.  Place it back over the other strip and adjust the pattern to blend in.

 

 

Hold the seam allowance underneath the top strip with a pin to  keep them from shifting and lift up the top bias up so that it’s perpendicular to the one underneath. Use the triangular piece sticking out to hold with the pin.  

 

 

Insert the pin along the crease to hold in place.  Check the pin placement on both sides to make sure it’s going into and coming out of the fabric along the correct line. 

 

 

Stitch together along the crease and you are done! 

Pleating, SAGA, Smocking

ANOTHER HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Another lesson arrived in the mail for my SAGA correspondence course on pleating.  This one has assignments for plaids, stripes and gingham! Oh my!

Well, the first fabric I tried was a lavender and white stripe, the stripes being about 1/8” wide.  I thought that would be ok because the depth of the gears is about 1/8” so I might get a solid result.  WRONG!  It was a nightmare to pleat on grain and I felt like I was going cross-eyed.  Plus the light lavender color didn’t really help.  Not enough contrast against the white.  I got a pretty result, it looks like a kind of water-color effect, but not grain-perfect for SAGA standards.

 

 

So, back to the internet I went to pick out another striped fabric.  This time I chose a stripe ¼” wide with red and white stripes.  Nice contrast and so much easier to manipulate through the pleater.

 

 

After you insert the fabric perfectly straight, the secret is to position each stripe before you turn the crank.  Turn the pleater around so you can watch the back and put your magnifiers on too. That’s one accessory I didn’t think of at first, but I found it makes all the difference in order to see the threads in the fabric.

Just before the little teeth on the gears clamp down and pull it through, stop and give a tug or a little push to make sure the stripe is parallel to the gears.  Then just turn the handle a little but, just until the next set of teeth are ready to grab the fabric.  Tug, adjust, re-position the gathers that are sticking out of the end pieces.

If you notice one side feeding in faster, grab your dowel at that end and provide a little resistance.  If the ends are slagging through, then grab the little fabric handles and help the end through the gears by moving it along as you turn the crank.  It’s a little harder to grab the fabric sticking out just below the handle so you have to kind of reach over and cross your arms.

It’s slow, but I look at it like a challenge.  And it was so rewarding to pull the piece out to find the pleating threads coming out of the fabric within the 1/16” margin that SAGA allows!

 

 

Here’s the gingham sample.  For some reason, this fabric cooperated much more than the stripe.  Maybe because it is a poly blend, or a little softer.  But I’m pleased with this result too.  I used the same method.  Alternating adjustments, one crank at a time.

 

 

Last assignment is to pleat a plaid.  I was worried that this tartan might be too small, but I’m please with the result once again.

 

 

The plaid is on grain and straight going into the gears.  If the fabric droops a little or seems to be dragging at the end of the pleater then just lift up the fabric a little.  Grab it right where it is going into the gears, outside of the handles.  Pull slightly to the side to create tension and lift it until the grain is positioned parallel to the gears.  Alternate sides.  If one side of the fabric seems to be going in at a faster rate then add resistance by pulling on the dowel a little to create some resistance.

 

 

Here is a close up of the fabric coming off the needles.  On grain.  You can also see on the bottom edge how it went into the pleater straight.  This is what it looks like when the threads are tied off.

 

 

So, I’m amazed at the difference in my pleating skills so far.  To sum up, allow yourself plenty of time.  Pleat from behind the pleater.  Basically place the fabric in each groove before the teeth of the gear clamp down.  And most importantly, walk away!  Take frequent breaks and rest the eyes.  Take a breath, then come back to pleat a few more inches.  It is worth the extra effort.

SAGA, Smocking, WeeCare

SAGA Love

I spent the whole lovely weekend concentrating on SAGA projects.  I recently joined the Keystone Smart Smockers chapter of SAGA and their annual fundraiser is coming up on April 8, 2017.  It consists of an 18″ doll complete with a wardrobe piece contributed by each member.  It will be raffled off at the Mercer Museum’s Doll’s Day Out.  Here is the dress I made.  A red and white gingham dress with scalloped red belt and short puffy sleeves.

 

 

I used a doll sloper I’ve had for years from a class I took at a local heirloom shop.  It was taught by an lovely woman named Doris who had many granddaughters, and she knew EXACTLY how those lovely doll dresses were “handled” lol.  And remembering how my own daughters would dress their dolls, I was in total agreement.

 

Doris developed techniques to strenghten the weak spots and reduce the ripped seams that seem to pop up on so many purchased doll clothes.  Little girls will jam those dolly arms into sleeves and those little dolly fingers end up going right through underarm seams, cuffs, and sometimes they rip the whole sleeve off.

 

So Doris taught us how to line the dress bodice and totally enclose the armhole seams.  This creates a very strong armhole/underarm seam and adds another line of defense against those dolly fingers.  Even the collars are totally enclosed and protected.  And my own personal experience proves that she was right.

 

None of the dresses I made with this method ever ripped whereas dresses I bought at doll shows and fundraisers with serged armhole seams always came apart and I would have a tearful little girl asking me to fix it.  I have to admit that making this dress brought back some bittersweet memories of all those American Girl dolls and accessories all over the living room.  I have to apologize for the poor lighting and lack of model though.  I took the picture at the last minute and it was dark outside.

 

I’m going to make another one because I’ve decided to publish it as a pattern on my etsy shop.  Along with the baby clothes I’m developing, I will have a doll section.  I already have the models and props upstairs in my daughters’ rooms! lol.  Might as well put them to work!  So look for it soon as well as other designs.

 

Next, I finished a WeeCare gown and I photographed it on my smocking board so you can get a better idea of how tiny it is.  One part of SAGA’s mission is participation in the WeeCare program and donating preemie clothing to NICUs all across the country.  Chapters can donate directly to their local hospitals, and some chapters will bring donations to our national convention once a year for distribution.  This is the smallest size for a one pound baby.

 

 

Here are all the lovely things created by our members at our convention in Hampton, Virginia last September.  It is really a touching thing to see up close.  All the love and perfect stitching that goes into these gowns.  And all the parents and hospital nurses that are comforted knowing that these tiny babies can have some dignity.

 

 

We make all different sizes from one to five pound babies.  Of course the littlest ones are used for Bereavement Gowns, so these beautiful little dresses are the only piece of clothing that this little person will ever own.  And it is a huge comfort to Mom and Dad, who are grieving over their loss, to see their baby presented in a beautiful little outfit.

 

Some parents will take these, along with other mementos from the hospital, home in Bereavement Envelopes made by us. These are padded folio type of envelopes, made from pretty fabric and decorated with lace or embroidery, tied with a pretty ribbon.

 

The larger sizes are used for the preemies that are going home.  Often, parents are suddenly faced with an early delivery and they are caught with nothing in which to dress their little angel.  So the NICU nurses can dress the baby in these little pictures and the parents have one less thing to worry about.  Some hospitals even use them as graduation gowns when the baby moves up from the NICU to the regular nursery.  Here is a picture of the different sizes.

 

 

 

I always try to make every stitch perfect out of respect for the parents and the baby.  It is such a tough time and anything I can do to help is a blessing.  It’s a ministry that I am proud to participate in.  If you are interested in learning more go the the SAGA website at www.smocking.org.  There are many members who are eager to teach you how to make these gowns, so join us!  You will not regret it.

 

Bishop Construction, Pleating, Smocking

Bishop Pleating Revisited

I’m always trying to come up with foolproof methods for the construction techniques used in Heirloom Sewing.  Working with very malleable pleated fabric and laces can be a challenge and not taught in conventional sewing lessons.  You want that piping to be perfectly parallel to the first cable row on an insert.  The bias band on a bishop has to be stitched the same distance from the first pleating row all the way around the neck.  The seams on a bishop should be invisible and the tension has to be adjusted on the outer rows. Back in the day, before the internet and all I had was a copy of Sew Beautiful or Creative Needle, I would find that some of the instructions just didn’t work for me.  So I came up with my own way of doing things.  Not conventional, but I got the job done (usually at 3 am on Easter or Christmas lol).

In the spirit of “going rogue”, I have an update on that new pleating method I mentioned in a previous post.  Sometimes we want to pleat cottons, or poly cotton broadcloth but still want French seams, which can be very tricky to pleat.  Batiste, being so lightweight, is usually not a problem.  But cottons and broadcloth are a little heavier and create a bulkier French seam.  If that seam is not fine enough, or your pleater is very fussy, then you could end up with a lot of bent and broken needles.  This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if you have a Read pleater because they are still being manufactured.  However, if you have one of the others that are no longer manufactured, such as Sally Stanley or Amanda Jane, then you have to track down needles that will work in your machine.  Not an easy task considering some of the generic needles are just not the same quality as the original needles made for your specific machine.

Of course you could do a mock French seam, but that involves a lot of hand sewing for four armscye seams.  So what I decided to try was to split the French seam process.  First, I stitched the wrong sides together, 1/8th inch seam and pressed.  I trimmed the seam and ran it through the pleater.

 

Stitch 1/4″ seam wrong sides together, then pleat.

 

Now, here is the new step.  After blocking into the desired size and tying off my threads, I finished the French seam process.  Carefully lift up the bishop one section at a time being careful not to redistribute the pleats.  Locate the first seam and push the pleats flat, but only enough to give you space to stitch a ¼ inch seam.  Make sure the pleating thread is not too tight and bunching up your seam allowance.  Everything must be nice and flat.  Once you have a nice flat seam, pin it in place and carefully roll back the bishop to the next seam.

 

Push the pleats out of the seam area and complete the French seam.

 

Once all the seams are pinned this way, stitch the second pass of your French seam.  You will find that your seams are anchored in place and your bishop stays blocked.  You will have a much easier time trying to keep the right tension on the outer rows and you won’t end up with a turtleneck.

 

This is what it looks like on the right side.

 

Now depending on how straight your seams were pleated you might end up with some pleats that are not perfect around the seams and this is where we can fudge our stitches a bit.  As you smock and approach that first seam, just stop and take a look.  Look at all the rows and choose the side where most of the pleats fall.  If they are not perfectly parallel to the seam then just adjust the amount of fabric you take up with your stitch.  But stay consistent.   Always stitch on the same side of the seam.  It will disappear into the valley and never be seen.  If your seams have stitched over half a pleat on the other side, skip it and stitch over to the next full pleat. That little half a pleat will never be seen.  This is the only tricky part of the process.  Here are some examples:

 

Here is an example of the pleater threads not being joined evenly at the seams. Just place your needle in between to create a smooth line of stitching.
Here is an example of pleats varying in size. One the last row, where the needle is pointing, you would take up a tiny bit of fabric with your stitch.

 

When you are finished smocking and blocking your piece, snip the pleating threads in each seam allowance and  remove, section by section.

Snip the pleating threads in the seam line and remove by section.

 

It takes a little more time but you have beautiful French seams and a perfectly shaped bishop that drapes beautifully around a child’s shoulders.

Now I have to get back to my homework.  Lesson 2 of my SAGA correspondence course arrived.  I’m terrified…it’s all about pleating stripes, gingham and plaid! Oh my!

Pleating, SAGA

Pleating Homework with the Frenemy

My new Read Pleater

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working on my SAGA Artisan pin for Smocking.  One of the first submissions is a smocked sampler and the pleating has to be ON GRAIN….not something I can do consistently.  Back in the day, when I was stitching up smocked dresses for my little girls, I would crank out pleated pieces and they would always end up off grain.  By a few pleats type of off grain.  Since the pleats still looked nice, and didn’t buckle or pucker, I could still smock a decent piece and just trim off the end to make it even.  Once the dress was constructed, no one knew.

However, in the Artisan program, the piece will be judged on how evenly the pleats come OUT of the pleater, meaning on grain…no more fudging for me!  So I signed up for the SAGA correspondence class for pleating.  It’s filled with great tips and information.

Assignment #1 Long is Wrong

Here is the first assignment.  Its topic is the difference between the right side and the wrong side of the pleating.  Long is wrong.  Most pleaters will create stitches that are longer on one side than the other, depending on the brand of pleater that you use.

For this course I decided to make friends with my new Read pleater.  They are still being manufactured, so the needles are readily available.  I won this pleater in the SAGA Stitches Contest during Convention last September.  I submitted a smocked coin purse, and I won!  I have to admit, I didn’t get along with my new friend right away.  The design of the end pieces has a much steeper incline than good old Sally Stanley and my fabric was getting caught and puckered into the gears.  And it was REALLY dirty….even after running fabric through several times, just when I thought I had removed all the oil….ANOTHER stain.  I got frustrated, and put Read into timeout for a while and went back to using old Sally.  Then the needles on Sally started breaking on French seams …refer to my first post.  I decided to give Read another chance and the correspondence course seemed like the perfect opportunity.

The Frenemy…making friends with Read. So far so good and on grain.

Here is the second assignment, pictured above.  I really think I’m getting used to this new pleater.  So far it is staying on grain a little better and I can stay on the guideline. (It’s not very visible, but there is a blue guideline drawn on the fabric.)

Here’s a close up of the guideline. A little hard to see but still visible.

A close up of the guide line is pictured above.  It’s very faint but you can see how I am following it across the width of the fabric by lining it up in one of the slots on the top gear.  The only thing is that I made a mistake and placed the fabric too far to the left.  The guide line is supposed to line up with the last needle on the right, but you can still get the idea.

Below is a close up of the grain line.  So far, nice and straight.  I’ll keep practicing with this one; we just might be best buddies after all.

Close up of the fabric, still on grain.

 

 

 

 

Pleating

A new pleating method

 

I’m continuing my experiments with bishop pleating.  I really want to keep the French Seams, because I will be submitting a bishop dress for my SAGA artisan pin soon, and I’m pretty sure they want French seams.  I’m still waiting for my new set of pleating needles to come in the mail, so I played around.

I’ve read about other methods of pleating.  One is to pleat one section at a time, then to make a faux French seam.  Another is to serge the armhole seams.  But I don’t think that method will be accepted for Artisan standards.  So what I did was to make the first pass on the French seam, wrong sides together.  Trim very close to the stitching, and run the piece through the pleater.

Fan the pleats out on a blocking board and line up the seams according to the guidelines.  Tie off the threads to the proper size.

Lift the bishop off the blocking board, one section at a time and pin out the rest of the French seam.  This involves pushing the seam area flat on each seam and pinning.  Roll back from each side until all seams are pinned.  Then stitch the second pass of the French seam on your machine, right over the pleating threads.

I’ll have pictures on this on a later post.

 

Uncategorized

Needles!

So, I am starting a blog.  I want to share my love of heirloom sewing and smocking with others in the hope that new stitchers will carry on the art.  I fell in love with this sewing niche when my daughters were little and I was watching an episode of Sewing with Nancy.  I just loved the idea of stitching laces together to design fabric blocks that I could turn into beautiful dresses for my little girls….dresses I couldn’t afford to buy in the stores at the time because I was a stay at home mom on a tight budget.

Then I took my first smocking class at a little fabric shop in the area.  I started to sketch ideas and I found myself changing and altering patterns to match the ideas in my head.  This lead to an interest in pattern drafting which I taught to myself through books and a software program I was able to purchase.  I wanted to sell patterns but at the time printing on wide paper was very difficult in my area and selling patterns printed on regular paper to be taped together really didn’t appeal to me.  I put the plan aside and went back to the working world.  The girls were grown into teenagers and I got sidetracked into the 40 hour a week grind.  Boy was that a mistake!  Too tired at night during the week to continue my business plan, and too many chores on the weekend!

Of course I still sewed dresses for the girls when they needed something special, but it was a different type of sewing.  I did pick up machine embroidery and used it on prom dresses, and I learned how to work with different types of laces for other prom dresses.  It was fun, but not the fine stitchery that I love to do.  Now I will probably be sewing for some wedding gowns since both daughters got engaged within a month of each other.

However, I also have the time to re-focus on my stitching and designing.  I finally joined the Smocking Arts Guild of America, something I wanted to do for years.  I’ve met so many wonderful creative and caring women.  I highly recommend joining!  And the digital world has caught up with my ambitions; patterns are now available as a simple download and wide format printing is one click away at Staples.  I went back to my old software and drafting books and started creating again.  Which leads me to an issue I had tonight with pleater needles!

Years ago, I could pleat a bishop dress with tiny French seams and they would go through the pleater if I was slow and careful.  Tonight, I broke 5 needles and bent 3 others!  I used the same Imperial Broadcloth I used in the past, and the same tiny French seam, tucked into the pleater groove.  I just don’t get it, except for the possibility that the needles are not the same quality they were 20 years ago.  Sally Stanley pleaters are no longer made and it makes sense that the same quality needles they made for that pleater specifically are not available.  Now I’m on a mission to find a better way to get around this dilemma…..needles are too expensive and too hard to find.  There has to be a better way. Stay tuned.