Browse Category by Pleating
Classic Style, Construction, Forever Classic, New Pattern, Pleating, Sewing Techniques, Smocking

New Pattern!

Big Sister Pamela has been released and can be purchased here or at my Etsy shop.  I had a few requests to release the Baby Pamela dress in bigger sizes and I hope you enjoy making it.

 

 

The pattern includes sizes Newborn up to 9-12 Months and a simple smocking plate for new smockers.  It also includes my snap front diaper cover, which has been very popular.  It makes diaper changes so much easier!

 

A bias neckband is a quick technique and the sleeves ares smocked with baby waves for comfort and elasticity.

 

 

Perfect for spring time projects and Easter outfits.  Happy stitching!

Bishop Construction, New Pattern, Pleating, Smocking

New Pattern Test- Baby Bishop Diaper Set

 

 

 

 

My new pattern is all ready for testing.  It’s a little smocked bishop diaper set with a front closing.  There are options for a self folded over placket or a contrasting fabric placket.  The diaper cover has front snaps for easy changing.

An easy smocking plate is included with the pattern that requires basic knowledge of cable and trellis stitches.

The size range is newborn to 12 months.

Recommended fabrics are lightweight cottons and blends such as batiste, lawn, voile or linen.  Broadcloth can also be used as well as cotton interlock.  The diaper cover can be made from heavier fabric such as broadcloth, or chambray, or it can match the bishop top.

The testing will run from September 1-30, 2019 and I will notify all testers by September 1, 2019.

Here’s the link to apply:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYzA_RMSm2CW547RpUsiLPfVaDzp96-QC99jbeW8bYEo50iQ/viewform?usp=pp_url

Or go to my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/littleheirloomangels if the above link doesn’t work.

Please join us!

Bridal Heirlooms, Classic Style, Forever Classic, Pleating, Sewing Techniques, Silk Ribbon Embroidery, Smocking, Uncategorized

Smocked Bridal Purse- Construction and Attaching the Frame

By | On November 27,18 | 0 Comment

I’m back!  Wedding is done, and new grandson has been sufficiently cuddled for now. As promised, I’m going to explain the remaining steps for the Smocked Bridal purse I made.

To refresh your memory, I talk about the previous steps here and here.  I’ve been tinkering with this project for a while and I’m pleased with the outcome, however, I have some tweaking to do for the next one I make.  I used the Upstyle pattern from Esty, found here.  Their frames are very high quality and the pattern is easy to make.  However, I don’t care for the loose sides that will fold in unevenly, making the frame look off-center, as in the photo above.  That’s a tweak for another day.

In my second post about the purse, I described using a stay to stabilize the pleats and support the embroidery.  It was much easier to do the silk ribbon embroidery this way because all of the ribbons and floss were actually secured to the back of the stay instead of the pleats.  Also, the pleats didn’t shift around.  They stayed in position which made consistent stitches much easier to make.

 

Silk Ribbon Embroidered Smocking

 

I blocked the smocking to the size of the frame and then steamed the pleats.  When the smocking was dry and cool, I secured the stay to the top of the smocking.  I stitched 3/8″ from the top cable row, then I trimmed the top to 1/2″ from the cable row to the cut edge.

 

 

Next, I needed to control the fullness of the gathers along the bottom of the pattern piece.  The original pattern instructions place the pattern piece on the fold of the fabric, but there is also an option for one way designs and I used that.  Add 1/2″ seam allowance along the bottom of the pattern piece and cut two.  I measured the distance from the top of the pattern piece and marked the same distance from the top of my smocked piece.  Then I stitched 3 rows of gathering stitches and distributed the gathers until I was satisfied.

 

 

The gathers were stitched to the stay along the bottom seam.

 

 

Then the stay is attached at the sides along the seam line.  I also stitched around the cutting line to control the gathers in the seam allowance.  Then I trimmed just outside the cutting line stitching.

 

 

 

I stitched the back of the purse to the front along the bottom seam.

 

 

I pressed the seam open.  Here you can see where all the embroidery threads have been secured to the stay instead of the pleats.

 

 

Here is the fusible fleece being attached to the wrong side of the purse.  I only fused the fleece to the back of the purse and to the back of the smocking.  I DID NOT fuse the bottom gathers or the area of the silk ribbon embroidery.  I didn’t want to crush the embroidery through the fusing process and I didn’t want to crease the gathers.  I did fuse along the sides where the fabric is flat.

 

 

Here is the purse all assembled.  The lining is interfaced and there is also a Peltex inner structure.  I forgot to take pictures of the frame being attached, but the instructions included in the pattern are very good.  I was skeptical about a glued frame but it seemed to be very solid.  I was pleasantly shocked.

 

 

I think the smocking adapted to this pattern very well.  I have to work out a better design for the sides so I think I’ll dig out my mother in law’s vintage bags and do some research.

 

 

I also forgot to take a final picture in good light.  The lighting in the church wasn’t very good, but I think it’s a pretty picture anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bishop Construction, Construction, Pleating, SAGA, Smocking, Uncategorized

More Pleating Part 3

The next challenge in my pleating adventures is to tackle a method of bishop pleating that requires the pieces to be pleated before stitching the underarm seams.  I like to call it the Release and Rethread method.  It takes longer and requires a lot of concentration but it is a no fail method to totally hide seams.  Your bishop dress will appear totally seamless and smooth.  No ugly bumps that are created when the seams are caught up in the pleat during the typical pleating method.

The first step is to carefully lay your pieces in order.  Pleaters vary in the way the needles pierce the fabric in the rollers.  Some pleat with the longer stitches on top and other pleat with the longer stitches on bottom.  “Long is wrong” is the cardinal rule for pleating so it’s important that you understand how your pleater works.  The dress pieces should be laid out according to how your pleater pleats: right side up or wrong side up.

Pleat the first piece and clear it from the needles and unthread them.  With the right side of the fabric facing you, remove the threads and pull them out of the seam allowances, usually 1/2″ on each side of the pattern piece.  Make sure the pleating threads are coming out of the right side of the fabric.  You want to make sure your seam allowances will be falling to the wrong side of the garment.

Next, start pleating the sleeve, making sure the you have the correct sleeve piece.  For a back opening bishop, you will need the back of the sleeve to go through first so that it matches the back armhole of the first pleated piece.  The opposite would apply for a front opening bishop.  In that case, you have pleated one front already and need the front sleeve seam to go through the pleater first to match up with the front of the dress.  When the pleats start to build up on the needles, CAREFULLY pull off the seam allowance and flip it either up or down.  If you are pleating right side up, flip the seam allowance down.  If you are pleating wrong side up, flip it UP.  Be careful to have all your seam allowances on the wrong side of the dress.

 

Clearing the seam allowance from the pleater needles

 

Now that the seam allowance is free, carefully rethread the pleater with the same threads that are coming out of the first pleated piece.

 

Rethreading the needles for bumpless bishops

 

Make sure the pieces are all facing the same way and the pleating threads don’t get crossed as you rethread.  Continue pleating the sleeve and pull it completely off the needles just like you did for the first piece.  Clear the threads from the seam allowance, making sure the seam allowance will fall to the wrong side and continue the steps until the whole bishop has been pleated.

  1. Pleat
  2. Remove threads and clear seam allowance
  3. Pleat
  4. Pull seam allowance off needles and rethread
  5. Go to step 1 and repeat

When you are finished you should have no crossed threads, all the seam allowances on the wrong side and all the pieces in the proper order.

 

Bishop pleating without stitching the seams

 

Now it’s time to sew.  Basting is a crucial first step to sewing up the seam and making sure the pleating threads stay aligned.  Fold the seam so that the right sides are together and hand baste.  What I did to insure perfect alignment is to use the same needle holes of the pleating threads. I didn’t get a picture of just the basting but you can see it in the next steps.  Come up through the same holes in one row, go down through the same holes in the next row.  Then you machine stitch 1/16 of and inch from that basting line to form your valley.

 

Creating a valley for the bumpless bishop

 

 

 

I think you can see the basting line best in this picture.  Right where the pleating threads end, you can see a basting stitch between the two rows in white thread.

There are several options to finish the seams.  You can serge them, but if you are making an heirloom style garment you probably want to use on of the other methods.

Here I’ve done a Faux French seam by turning under the raw edges and stitching along the fold.

 

Faux French Seam

 

Here I’ve done a simple overcast edge.  The stitches are very tiny and hard to see but I think you can get the general idea.

 

Overcast Stitch on Pleated Seam

 

I’ve never worked with this method before but now that I’ve tried it, I plan to use it more often.  It’s definitely less stressful than pleating French seams and holding your breath as they go through the rollers.  You just have to concentrate and remember all the steps in order.  And even if you forget, you only have to go back and repleat one piece, not the whole dress! I call that a win right there.

My next lesson is double pleating.  As my daughter’s got older I had to figure out that technique all by myself.  This was almost 30 years ago and limited resources were available!  I  muddled through and got the dresses made but now maybe I can learn a few new tricks to make it easier!  Stay tuned.

Bishop Construction, Construction, Pleating, Smocking

More Pleating Homework- Part 2

By | On August 14,18 | 0 Comment

The next chapter in my adventures with the pleating course concentrated on pleating seams for bishop style dresses.  This has become a concern lately because so many of us have pleaters that are no longer manufactured and therefore, the original needles are no longer available.  There are generic needles on the market but they bend and break at the slightest turn of the crank.  Plus they are very expensive!  My solution is try to bend the pleating rules (better than the needles!) a bit and think of a new plan.  In the previous post on this topic, read here, I described how to get a VERY tiny french seam.  Now to talk about getting that little seam through those rollers.

First, I rolled the fabric on the dowel, keeping each seam parallel to the dowel.

 

 

Next, I made sure the fabric was started through the rollers on grain.  My method is to turn the crank until there is a tiny opening between the teeth of the rollers.  Then I hold the fabric edge at the top and bottom of the pleating area and slide it into the rollers, keeping the  inserted edge taut.  I wiggle it in until I see that the grain is parallel to the rollers.  Then, with my left hand I spread my fingers and hold the fabric against the bottom roller to make sure it doesn’t slip out of place as I turn the crank.  If your opening is small enough, you should only have to turn it a little bit before the teeth grab the fabric and it is secure.  Make sure everything is on grain and start pleating.

Pleat slowly and stay on grain.  You might have to make small adjustments on each side of the fabric as it goes through the rollers and pull the pleats off the needles often.  Just turn one crank at a time, tug and pull as necessary to keep the grain parallel.   As the seam comes off the dowel and approaches the rollers it must be parallel or you will hear that dreaded crunch!

 

 

Push the seam into a groove on the top roller just before it goes through the pleater with a screwdriver.

 

 

If you work slowly, have patience, and stay on grain, the seams should come out of the pleater free from the pleater threads.  Your bishop will be bump free from the right side and the smocking will be continuous and GORGEOUS!

 

Mini French Seam

 

In Part 3 I will talk about pleating before seaming – what I like to call the release and re-thread method.  It is suitable for heavier fabrics and it guarantees no needle breaks!  It takes more time but in the end you will have a beautiful no bump bishop to show off all your beautiful smocking!

 

Pleating

A Pleating Experiment

My youngest daughter is getting married in November and my mind is filled with designs for a bridal purse.  I’ve really fallen in love with the channel frame purses.  They seem like they are easy and fast.  Plus, it seems like the straight channel would be perfect for a smocked design.  There are no corners or curves.  It isn’t a sew-on frame but I’m hoping I can glue it and crimp it and it will be just as secure.

I wanted to make the purse out of some duchess satin with smocking, beads and silk ribbon embroidery.  Duchess satin is a beautiful polyester satin that is very easy to work with, so I decided to try running it through my pleater.

 

 

The polyester in the fabric reacts differently when passing through the pleater so you have to go VERY, VERY SLOWLY.  As I turned the crank, I heard crunching sounds and my heart stopped, thinking that I broke a needle right at the start.  Thankfully, that crunching wasn’t the needle.  It was the polyester fiber.  So I continued very slowly, easing the fabric onto the needles gently.  I managed to pleat all the way across the fabric with no issues.  No split pleats.  No bubbles. No skipped pleats.  And I ended up relatively on grain!

The pleats looked a little wonky but I just pushed them very closely together and pinned the fabric edges to my shaping board. I tugged at the top and bottom to straighten out those little bubbles.

 

 

Then I spritzed and steamed.  Then I spritzed and steamed again.  I pushed the pleats to the other side of the pleating threads really close together and repeated the process.  After the pleats were cooled off, I had lovely peaks and valleys that will smock up very nicely.

 

 

I’d say that’s a success.  Now the real test comes when I try to do it again!

 

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.

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.