Points - Martha Pullen

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
T
ake a time-out and
insert your smocking
into a ready-made sweatshirt.
48
Sew Beautiful September/October 2008
It ’ ll be a sure winner!
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.
Press edges
under
WS - shirt


1. Block smocking so that it is perfectly square. Steam and dry.
4. Mark insert placement on wrong
side of sweatshirt with vertical and
horizontal center lines.
Fuse
interfacing
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.
WS - shirt
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.
Size of insert
1/2”
Cutting
line
Stitch
Clip
Cut out
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.
7. Turn sweatshirt right side out.
Press seam allowances to back creating a window for smocked insert.
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.
Topstitch
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).
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
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).
www.SewBeautifulmag.com
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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).
Figure 1
Figure 3
Figure 2
Figure 4
C
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
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