Patchwork Underground

The secret is out!

Here’s what I ended up doing with my canadian smocking experiment…..

His name is Wilbur. (!!!)  I love him!

I started with stay-stitching all around the edges of the smocking so that the pattern wouldn’t get lost or distorted in the seams….

Then I guessed how to make the legs….square plus circle = leg!

Here’s the fabric I used for his tummy….I’ve been stashing this for ever.

Here’s a mid-surgery shot.  I machine stitched most of it together but positioning the legs just right was tricky when they were on the inside of the inside-out circle….does that make sense?!  I dunno…I ended up doing some hand sewing to get some of the things just right.

Basic form complete!

Another shot…note my adorable vintage sewing box in the background… (thanks for getting me that, Deb!)

I added a couple of accents to tie in with the vintage print on his tummy.  (My recent love affair with turquoise is almost as strong as my affair with grey.)  I can’t decide if the lines on his feet are toes or claws…

How can you say no to those eyes??

(I know I’ve been babblin’ on about smocking for EVER.  Just tell my when to shut up about it.)

But….I’m excited to try this technique in other contexts, too, especially purses and maybe in a yoke on a shirt/jacket.  I’m very tempted to incorporate it into clothing but I’m also a little worried about it looking too King Henry the VIII, you know what I mean?  I’m thinking maybe experimenting with it in real lightweight/sheer fabrics and veering away from the more traditional velvets and corduroys….we’ll see.  =)

I just got done learning this awesome technique (you can see my results here). I used the tutorial at Savvy Seams (which was awesome) but I wanted to share a more visually-oriented tutorial with ya’ll. I know canadian smocking looks crazy hard but it’s actually super simple (and fast!) once you get the pattern down. Seriously!

<3 erin

p.s. I had lots of fun messing with photoshop to makes this tutorial extra cute. Love that star stamp!

ok, Here goes…

~*The Tutorial*~

Before I give you the step-by-step lemmie give you The Grand Scheme of Things. Basically, you’re gonna be working in a row, starting towards the top of your grid and moving downwards. You are always working on the backside of the fabric. When you get to the bottom of a row, you tie off your thread and start a new row.

Here’s the nitty-gritty:

Step 1. Figure out how big your want your finished smocked block. Multiply the length and width by 3. Make a grid of dots on your fabric square with a fabric marker/sharpie/chalk. Leave at least a 2.5″ seam allowance around all edges. Make the dots about 1″ apart.

Step 2. Knot your thread and make a tiny stitch (pick up a few fibers) under this dot:

step 2

Step 3. Make a tiny stitch under the top left dot, bring this dot and your starting dot together (forming a pleat). Make a knot over both dots to secure the pleat:

step 3

Step 4. Make a stitch underneath the next dot down. DO NOT MAKE A PLEAT. Leave the fabric flat. You’ll have some slack on the thread. This is good. Make a knot over this new dot:

step 4

Step 5: Bring these two points together. Knot:

step 5

Step 6. Just like step 4:

step 6

Step 7. Just like step 3:

step 7

Step 8: Continue working down the row until you get to the end. Once you’re done, tie off and start a new row with a new length of thread. Repeat the sequence starting with step 1 but use this dot as your starting point instead:

step 8

Once you’re done, it’s apparently common to steam the whole thing from the top without applying any pressure (like…hover over the top with your iron’s steam blaring) but renegade seamstress that I am, I skipped this step. It still looks good but I might try steaming it next time to see what the effect is like.

The end!

I hope this was helpful, folks. I’m still a novice so let me know if this tut was clear enough. If you end up trying this out, definitely send me a pic of your creation or link to one in your comment. I wanna see!

I finally tried Canadian (aka Lattice, aka north american) Smocking!!!

I started to follow the directions here and BOY HOWDY!  They were trickier than I initially thought when I first read over them…more on that at the end of the post.

So, it all starts with dots on a square piece of fabric.  I used my trusty fabric pen in lovely orange.  I made the dots about 1″ apart from each other, forming a grid.  I left about 2.5″ of margin (seam allowance) around the grid.  The dots are hard to see in this pic but they’re there….

First two attempts: utter failure

(First attempt so pathetic that it is not shown)

Second attempt:

oh no…that’s not cute at all.

Third attempt.  Reading through directions v-e-r-y sloooowly.

Yay!  Finally starting to look like something after the first row….

Second row.  Booya!

Backside…almost as pretty as the front!

Just a couple more rows and then…bam!  Finished square!

Show the backside some love…

Backside glamor shot….

Next steps….shhh…that’s a secret.  (It involves garage sale wool roving, sexy vintage print and smocked square.  More on this later.)

I LOVED doing this - once I got the hang of it.  Following the tutorial at savvy seams proved difficult for a visual learner like myself.  But once I got in the groove this was so much fun.  It had a mathematical pattern component to it - like knitting - but it was hand sewing which is even more relaxing for me.

Though I love the tutorial I followed for canadian smocking at Savvy Seams, I’m going to do up my own tutorial with a diagram so that you can see the over all pattern better.  I think it will work better for visual learners (like myself!)  Hopefully I’ll have it posted tomorrow.  Stay tuned!