Pleating Frustration!

I haven't smocked anything for ages. I love smocking, but I have been busy working on other projects, mostly embroidery, but I had a trip coming up that involved flying. So, with two hours to hang around at airports and a six hour flight in both directions, coupled with down time while I was away and attending two days of business meetings (just listening to reports and more reports) I decided that I needed some handwork and smocking it was going to be.

So, as I have two little girls in my 'family' and they are cousins, I thought I would make them a Mary De each. I have plenty of fabric in my stash and so went off and found two pieces which would make cute dresses. As the fabrics were good quality  cottons, I tore the lengths I needed for the pleated fronts to get them on the straight grain. Then I threaded up my Read pleater with 10 needles and thread and began pleating.

The problem fabric

The fabrics went through the pleater beautifully, one after the other. Before I took the thread off the needles, and removed the pleated fabrics, I decided to wanted to pleat a piece of plain white broadcloth for a insert. I mean, I might want to do some picture smocking too at some point. It was as I moved the first pleated skirt front along the 'washing line' of pleater threads to make room to pleat something else, I noticed that this first fabric I had pleated looked a little odd.There was a definite width-way pattern that had not shown up on the un-pleated fabric and it formed lines on the pleated fabric.

Start of the re-pleating

The difference from the first pleating thread towards the end of the pleating.

So, I hear you say, that isn't a problem. It is still smockable, after all we pleat checks and stripes all the time and smock them. It isn't a problem if the pattern is in line with the pleating threads, in other words, on grain, but this pattern was not. I had followed the torn edge of my straight grain of fabric and the pleating was beautifully straight (even if I say so myself), but the pattern it 'found' in the fabric was not! I just knew that if I smocked that pleated fabric it would look really strange even to the un-trained eye!

Pleated following the pattern rather than the grainline

So I cut it off the pleating thread line, pressed it and re-pleated it following a repeat on the pattern rather than the straight grain of the fabric. The photos show the results. I will now have to adjust the bottom edge when I come to hem the dress.

Now the pattern is straight and doesn't offend the eye!

I have never had this happen before and find it very frustrating. The fabric design was clearly very much off grain when it was printed.  Oh well! Lesson learned. Another time I will have to pleat a sample piece of my patterned fabric just to make sure I don't have the same problem.

Taming Pleater Threads

How do you keep your pleater threads from getting tangled?

The first time I used my pleater, my spools of thread were left to their own devices-not a good idea as they soon got tangled and rolled everywhere and even become a plaything for the household cats!

Then I saw a board with individual pegs for each spool and my husband was very good and made me one. A great solution and not very expensive. It sat on the counter in front of my pleater and the threads were always neat and the spools stayed put (sorry cats!).

Spool pegs on their board

But as great as that was, I then saw a better solution. I saw a board with the pegs attached and the pleater attached to it too, so then nothing moved or slipped when you were pleating. You can still remove the pleater when necessary, which is great. My father, visiting from England, helped with this version. He used the previous peg board and screwed it to one end of a larger board. He was thoughtful enough to cover the base board with sticky back plastic so the fabrics do not get caught on the rough surface and it can be wiped clean. He also added rubber feet on the underside to stop it scratching the table surface and also help keep it in place when pleating.

My Sally Stanley attached to its board 

with the spool board attached at the back.

So I had a great item to help me pleat and not have to worry about the threads running a-muck-
thanks to my husband and father. I have been happy using it for many years.

Then a few years I was given a 16 row Read pleater by someone who no longer required it. It is a little smaller than my Sally Stanley and easier to use if it needs to be transported (pleating at a Wee Care workshop or demonstrating at a Smock in Public day). It fits nicely in a plastic shoe box, but there is  that problem again-how to tame the pleater threads! It just so happened that my husband was given a bottle of malt whiskey in a rather nice box. I was loathe to throw the box  out as I felt sure I could find a way to re-purpose it. And I did! It is a great pleater thread box for the Read pleater. I purchased some thin dowel and cut it to fit tightly along the length of the box. My spools of thread slide onto the dowel and then when the box closes, the magnetic edge holds the threads in place outside the box. The box is about the same size as the shoe box so they sit on top of each other nicely when they are not being used.

Inside the box, showing the dowel and threads.

The closed box

So let me know how you tame your pleater thread spools.

Pleating 'washing-line' style getting 

ready to teach a smocked ornament class to my EGA chapter!

Teaching Smocking

As well as SAGA I belong to a couple of other needlework organzations; one a large national group that many other smockers belong to Embroiderers Guild of America (EGA) and the other, Friends of Counted Embroidery (FCE) a local group. At a recent FCE meeting I taught smocking. The programme was a smocked wing angel ornament which I was to have taught at the December meeting, but due to bad weather was posponed.

 

I am not a great teacher, but I am organized and I prepared the kits well in advance. I knew the number of kits required as the ladies sign up ahead of time. I gave them everything they needed to complete the project as I like to think they are going to finish it! I spoke about smocking, demonstrated the stitches (cable and trellis) they were going to use and walked around giving individual help. I also took my Read pleater, threaded it and showed the ladies how it worked. They were fancinated! I took a couple of smocking books, A-Z of Smocking and The Best of AS&E to show them different stitches and designs. I also pointed out that smocking isn't just for children's clothing.

Are they going to get hooked on smocking, some of them might. A couple of the members have smocked in the past so I am hoping to have rekindled their spark, but at least I have reached out and shared something I love and introduced them to something new.

Who are you going to teach to smock in 2015?