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Bear in Mind
An electronic newsletter from Bear Threads Ltd.
From The Editor –
For me, March is likened to Wednesday being ‘hump’ day.
March signals the beginning of spring with daffodils,
March madness, St. Patrick’s Day, kite flying and
sometimes Easter baskets. I think in this issue of Bear in
Mind, we have touched on just about every one of those
aspects of March. It is another packed issue for you to
enjoy, hopefully with a cup of ‘green’ tea!
We welcome Susie Gay as our guest this month as she
shares a beautiful smocked collar. I have heard from many
shops in the past 18 months that they are seeing a revival of
smocked collars. This one is especially nice as the plate can
be so easily adapted and individualized! Susie even shares
her method of making padded coat hangers for adult, child
and even doll clothing!
Louise Hedrick is back with her immense knowledge of
vintage dolls. What a treat to have her sharing. This month
is an introduction to German china dolls and is so very
interesting.
Annabelle and Ping are hosting a Slumber Party in
celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Oh, to have the energy of
these young ladies….My bet is that not much sleep was
had!
I will not keep you further as you have lots of reading and
enjoying inside, so I leave you to stay warm and
Happy stitching…
Sheila
Volume 7 – Issue 3
March 2015
About Susie Gay
Susie Gay has been stitching just about anything
since she was six years old, from her wedding
gown and trousseau, to a grass catcher for her
dad’s lawn mower. A Home Economist by trade,
and an early member of SAGA, she has taught
formal classes since 1981, which included
construction classes, smocking, shadow work,
French hand sewing, and Crazy Quilting. She
took a hiatus from teaching after following her
Army husband to Germany for nine years, and
entered Civil Service. Realizing her chance to
finally return to her dream of living and breathing
needlework and sewing, she left Civil Service in
2001 and has never looked back. Susie has won
many blue ribbons in the SAGA Design Show
including Best in Show (2005), Viewer’s Choice
(2007) and Judge’s Choice (2x, 2009). She was
awarded a Judge’s Choice award along with
several ribbons at the prestigious Woodlawn
Needlework Show (2010). A national teacher for
the Smocking Arts Guild of America, she travels
wherever she is hired across the U.S. She owns
Berryhill Heirlooms, a web store that stocks
patterns, books, kits, handmade sewing
accessories and notions. She is the designer of
Berryhill Heirlooms Patterns and has published
several articles in Creative Needle, Sew Beautiful
magazines and SAGA News.
Elegant Easter Dress
By Susie Gay
Take a dress, add a lovely smocked collar, and
you have a beautiful outfit for Easter or any
special occasion. The Harlequin smocking
design (instructions and design plate follow)
is very simple and entirely effective because it
perfectly frames the wearer’s face. It’s also a
wonderful choice for a floral fabric: just
choose one dominant color and one
contrasting color of the floral fabric for the
smocking. The added benefit of this design is
the ease with which it’s completed: its fast
(Easter is on 6 April this year!) and requires
only three stitches (cable, baby wave and 5step trellis). Harlequin can be “dressed up or
dressed down” by using flowerets in some of
the diamonds formed by the 5-step trellis.
Cast-on flowers could also be used, along with
small colored buttons. Turn this into a basic
yoke design by using the double cable/baby
wave design on rows 1-2 at the bottom of the
design and “fill it out” with the decorative
stitches and ideas mentioned above. It’s really
an open diamond design just waiting for your
beautiful ideas. Two bullion roses adorn each
front collar corner in three colors: the center
is pale yellow, the middle is in white and the
outer bullion row is the same pink as the
smocking. Both roses have four cast-on leaves,
two at each side, to complete the collar.
The dress fabric is Bear Threads’ Pique
Jacquard Floral 100% Swiss cotton in pink. It
is absolutely gorgeous to work with and has a
wonderful hand. Since it is 60” wide it goes a
long way, and also comes in blue and green as
well. As any pique can do, it does ravel a bit,
so just finish the seams as you are stitching. I
was able to stitch narrow French seams with
the “Zorro” (lightening zigzag) stitch for the
first pass of the French seam process, then
completed the second pass using a narrow
edge stitch foot as a guide to achieve very
consistent results. This fabric would make a
beautiful adult-sized suit or a “shrug” jacket
for a little girl besides other styles of elegant
dresses. If you have any scraps left over, use
them to make a matching padded hanger for
your garment like the one shown with the
dress. This particular hanger is tied with
sparkle organza ribbon, and took me 45
minutes to make from start to finish. The
pattern is available from my website,
www.berryhillheirlooms.com, and is called
“Berryhill Heirlooms Covered and Padded
Hanger”. The wood hangers are also available
and can easily be cut down to fit any size
garment, from 18” doll dress up to children’s
clothing, and of course, full size adult size
hangers.
The pattern for the dress is Children’s Corner
“Emily”, which has a “slightly scooped
neckline” according to the pattern description.
In order to substitute the smocked collar I had
to re-draw the neckline higher, which was
easy to do using Children’s Corner “Lee” (a
basic yoke that has a smocked collar in View
C). I added a small piece of tissue paper to the
Emily front yoke neckline and laid the same
size front yoke of Emily over the same size
front yoke of “Lee”, and drew the Lee neckline
onto the Emily neckline. The same alterations
were done to the Emily yoke lining pieces and
the back yoke. I used the smocked collar
measurements from the Lee pattern for the
smocked collar cutting the width at 5½” for
this size 8 dress. The lace is stitched with the
usual heirloom zigzag combination and then
finished with a machine Madeira pinstitch
using DMC Machine Embroidery 50wt thread
(which is actually the same thickness as a
60wt thread). The collar opens in the front
and the lace edging (L-17 from Bear Threads)
aligns with the center front of the front yoke.
In order to make sure the collar lays flat and
doesn’t roll I used piping around the neckline
to strengthen the seam. I first pinned the
collar to the yoke front, collar wrong side
against yoke right side, and basted it in place.
Then I laid the piping over the collar and
basted it in place from front fold line to front
fold line after removing about ½” of cord
from each end of the piping. Proceed with the
pattern instructions to place the right side of
the
yoke
lining
over
the
basted
yoke/collar/piping and stitch the neckline
together using the piping basting line as a
guide. The result of adding the piping is a
beautifully laying collar that has the smocking
at Row 1 highlighted by the piping. Your little
girl or granddaughter will love this elegant,
tailored Easter dress for any occasion!
Harlequin
A Smocking Design by Susie Gay of Berryhill Heirlooms
4. Row 2-3: Starting at design center using color #1,
complete a down cable at Row 3 and a 5-step trellis up to
Row 2. Complete one up cable and a 5-step trellis back
down to Row 3 and one down cable. Continue the cable, 5step trellis and cable sequence across the row. Turn fabric
upside down and complete the same pattern from design
center to the other side of the fabric.
This design can be adjusted to fit any size of Bishop, Basic
Yoke or smocked collar by adding or subtracting the
number of 5-step trellis rows. For this design on a girl’s
size 8 dress pleat 9 rows, with Rows 1 and 9 as holding
rows. Row 2 of pleating is Row 1 of smocking design. All
smocking is done with three strands of stranded cotton
embroidery floss. Only two colors are used in the design in 5. Rows 3-4: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable
across between Rows 3 and 4.
addition to one to match the collar fabric.
1. Find center 2 pleats and mark. Backsmock (cable) Row 6. Rows 4-5: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable
1 with 2 strands of embroidery thread to match the collar across between Rows 4 and 5.
fabric.
7. Rows 5-6: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable
2. Row 1: Start with an up cable on center and cable across across between Rows 5 and 6.
row in color #1. Turn fabric upside down and cable across
to complete the other side. Change to color #2 and stack 8. Rows 6-7: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable
cables across right next to the previous cable row with an across between Rows 6 and 7.
up cable next to the down cable of the previous cable row.
9. Row 7: Change to Color #2 and complete cable, 5-step
Change back to Color #1 for Rows 2-7.
trellis, cable right next to the completed one in Color #1.
3. Row 1-2: Starting at design center, complete a down Change back to Color #1 and complete the cable, 5-step
cable at Row 2 and a baby wave up to the down cable of trellis, cable right next to the previous one in Color #2.
Color #2. Complete three cables (up, down, up), then baby
wave down to Row 2 and complete a down cable,
continuing in this manner across the row. Turn fabric
upside down and complete the same series of stitches from
center to the other side of the fabric.
German China Dolls
by
Louise Hedrick
The production of China (glazed porcelain) dolls
began in Germany in the late 1830’s. Originally
there were only three companies engaged in this
activity. Shortly afterwards this would greatly
expand. Until recently little was known about
the origin of the individual dolls and who made
them. Their heads were unmarked and doll
resource books simply stated “maker unknown”.
In recent years, by excavating the grounds
around the ancient factories, broken shards
have surfaced. This, added to archives from the
factories and a study of the various painting
styles and colors, has provided a window into
this early period of German doll production.
Their date of manufacture is largely identified by
their hair style. Fashion magazines were eager
to draw these styles for their customers and the
sculptors followed this closely. One of the first
to make its appearance was the hair style of
Queen Victoria on her wedding day in 1840
upon her marriage to Prince Albert. See photo
#1. She wore her hair in a center part, with
braids on the side looped to the back with ears
exposed. She had worn this hair style since she
was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey in
June 1838. Almost every doll maker produced a
likeness to this style. See photo #2 from the
Kister china company.
When we talk about “Chinas” we are usually
referring just to the shoulderhead.
Factory
bodies were few and didn’t last long. China
arms and legs were available separately.
However, most of these mass produced dolls
arrived in this country as just a shoulderhead
for clever mothers to finish with an all-cloth or
leather body which they would then go on to
costume in the styles of the period.
The china pictured in photo #3 came into my
collection from the original family that had
owned her since before the Civil War in Georgia.
She is known today as a “Grenier-type” china
because of the resemblance to the papier mache
dolls made and patented by Ludwig Grenier of
Philadelphia in 1858. This all original doll is 14”
tall. She is poured in pure white porcelain with
black painted hair and brown eyes. Judging
from the sewing techniques, her body and
clothing were made by the same person. This
china shoulderhead was made in Germany from
the 1850’s to 1867. In 2009 I lent her to the
Doll Artisan Guild International to be molded as
their souvenir doll for their convention. The
reproduction is pictured in phone #4. Both dolls
have a cloth body, but the Guild added china
arms to their version.
produced dolls arrived in this country as just a
shoulderhead for clever mothers to finish with an allcloth or leather body which they would then go on to
costume in the styles of the period.
Their date of manufacture is largely identified by their
hair style. Fashion magazines were eager to draw
these styles for their customers and the sculptors
followed this closely. One of the first to make its
appearance was the hair style of Queen Victoria on
her wedding day in 1840 upon her marriage to Prince
Albert. See photo #1. She wore her hair in a center
part, with braids on the side looped to the back with
ears exposed. She had worn this hair style since she
was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey in June
1838. Almost every doll maker produced a likeness
to this style. See photo #2 from the Kister china
company.
The china pictured in photo #3 came into my
collection from the original family that had owned her
since before the Civil War in Georgia. She is known
today as a "Grenier-type" china because of the
resemblance to the papier mache dolls made and
patented by Ludwig Grenier of Philadelphia in
1858. This all original doll is 14" tall. She is poured in
a pure white porcelain with black painted hair and
brown eyes. Judging from the sewing techniques, her
body and clothing were made by the same
person. This china shoulderhead was made in
Germany from the 1850's to 1867. In 2009 I lent her
to the Doll Artisan Guild International to be molded as
their souvenir doll for their convention. The
German China Dolls
reproduction is pictured in photo #4. Both dolls have
a cloth body, but the Guild added china arms to their
The productions of China (glazed porcelain) dolls version.
began in Germany in the late 1830's. Originally there
were only three companies engaged in this
activity. Shortly afterwards this would greatly
expand. Until recently little was known about the
origin of the individual dolls and who made
them. Their heads were unmarked and doll resource
books simply stated "maker unknown." In recent
years, by excavating the grounds around the ancient
factories, broken shards have surfaced. This, added
to archives from the factories and a study of the
various painting styles and colors, has provided a
window into this early period of German doll
production.
When we talk about "Chinas" we are usually referring
just to the shoulderhead. Factory bodies were few
and didn't last long. China arms and legs were
available separately. However, most of these mass
The odds of finding a four-leaf clover have been
calculated at 10,000 to 1! If you do find one, you
are lucky indeed.
‘SPSP’
St. Paddy’s Slumber Party!
It has been such a busy 2 months for
Annabelle and Ping, and the bitter cold in
Connecticut continues. I am sure all of our
readers have been hearing about all the
snow they have endured this winter in the
Northeast. Annabelle and Ping decided
instead of another ski weekend, and travel
being so wretched, they would play hostess
to their friends for a St. Patrick’s Day
Slumber Party. There was much to watch on
the TV …all of the March Madness
basketball games and St. Patrick’s Day
Parades. And there were many details that
needed attention before their trip to
Atlanta in April. (More about that next
month!) Curling up in front of a fireplace,
munching and watching TV sounded like just
the thing to do. They asked their friends to
wear green in celebration of St. Patrick’s
Day and what a wonderful array of green
loungewear appeared! There was a lovely
Print Pique in Jade Green, Spring Green in
Faille, Wintergreen Dotted Swiss gown,
Cotton Flannel in Wintergreen (Oh so
soft!), Forest Green was represented in
Mini Micro checks and Cotton Flannel, and
the pajamas in Seafoam green Voile Stripe
Dotted Swiss and Bearissima was to die
for. Who knew there were so many shades
of GREEN?
PS – For those who love the Voile Stripe
Dotted Swiss, we just might have some
wonderful news about it being available
again soon!!!
What a fun night the girls had! Lots of food and fun.
Ping and Annabelle planned for days and invited their closest friends from school.
Pajamas in Forest Green Micro-Check with Forest Green
Flannel applique. Pajamas in Spring Green Faille.
Wintergreen Dotted Swiss nightgown. Pajamas in
Seaform Voile Striped Dotted Swiss/Seafoam
Bearissima with E-29 in Seafoam.
Wintergreen Cotton Flannel nightgown. Pajamas in
Jade Green Print Pique.
FYI
Sewing for Dolls Tip #3
St. Patrick’s Day in Singapore
At the slumber party Ping shared with her friends
a bit of trivia from her home in Singapore.
It seems St. Patrick’s Day in Singapore is quite an
occasion as well. One famous Irish Pub, Molly
Malones, has the honor of being the first Irish Pub
to open in Singapore. It was designed and built in
Ireland and shipped to Singapore where it was reassembled at Circular Road along Singapore’s
famous Boat Quay area. It is a unique Irish
experience with a beautiful Singapore influence
and has been dishing up food and drink since
1995…and now you know!
Different kinds of closures are
available for doll clothes, from buttons
to Velcro. For baby dolls and other
dolls for small children Velcro is a
good choice. For older girls other
closures will work.
Buttons and buttonholes are a pretty
finish to a really nice outfit.
National Quilt Day
National Quilt Day is March 21st. It
celebrates quilts and those who make them.
The National Quilting Association started
National Quilt Day in 1991 and is always
the 3rd Saturday in March.
Buttons can also be used in conjunction
with snaps.
Toasting to all of you quilters out there, I
share this quote:
“Quilters know they have had enough coffee
when they can thread a machine needle
while it is still running!”
"Bear in Mind" articles are available on our website. Encourage your customers
to check out our website for information and inspiration.
Visit us on the web at www.bearthreadsltd.com
To place an order contact us at 404-255-5083 or 404-255-4001 fax