Tag Archives: shadow smocking

Easter Dresses from the Past

Posted on January 24, 2013 | 15 comments

Courtney wrote a sweet note asking about Easter dresses I have made in the past.  For her 2 year old daughter, she is designing an heirloom confection for this same celebration.  She was curious about my granddaughter Laurel’s earlier special frocks.

bunny bubble

 

She was just 10 months old, crawling at lightning speed when her first Easter rolled around.  A bubble seemed to be the most sensible solution for a baby who spent most of her waking moments on her knees.  For details of this little outfit, headband and matching bib for Easter dinner, see the post Baby Bunny Bubble.

 

 

1st birthday~Easter dress

 

Laurel’s first birthday was two months later.  She was toddling around, making it easy for me to justify making the heirloom dress of my dreams.  I absolutely loved making  this.  For details and more photos than you will want to look at, check the post First Birthday Dress.

 

slip

 

For me, the matching slip was the finishing touch.

Her second Easter fell just a few months before our daughter’s wedding, Continue reading →

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Posted in boys, girls, heirloom sewing, machine embroidery, ready-to-smock finished projects, shadow work by machine, smocking

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Shadow Smocking How-to

Posted on April 11, 2012 | 14 comments

shadow-dress

 

My granddaughter’s shadow smocked Easter dress was inspired by Kay Guiles’ article in Sew Beautiful, Easter, 1998.  In fact, the dress is nearly identical to one of the sample garments shown in that article.  I take no credit whatsoever for the design or technique.

 

SB pic

 

The only changes made to Laurel’s dress are the addition of lace insertion in the skirt and the substitution of a different embroidery design that included both silk ribbon and DMC floss.

Shadow smocking is a very unique technique and not at all difficult.  But I learned a lot that I would like to share with anyone considering such a project. Continue reading →

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Posted in hand embroidery, Holiday Projects, shadow work, smocking, Tutorials

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New Brother Quattro! New SmockingTechnique!

Posted on March 3, 2012 | 6 comments
my new baby!

my new baby!

 

NEW MACHINE!!!  If you have heard happy shouts and contented purrs coming from central Florida, it’s just me.  I am beside myself with delight over my new Brother Quattro!  After my disappointment over the misplaced design on a collar for my granddaughter, I knew that wouldn’t have happened if I had been sewing on the Brother Quattro.  So now, this big Brother lives in my sewing room!  Hurrah!

When I stitched that design on my Brother Duetta, I had hooped heavy water soluble stabilizer, applied spray adhesive and placed the “V” shaped collar in place.  In fact, I had centered the design properly, with the needle penetrating the absolute center of the design.  But the linen collar was not absolutely straight,  north and south, east and west.  This caused the “V” design to lean to the east.

 

collar-close

 

The Brother Duetta stitched it perfectly, but my operator error caused the misplacement.

This slight misalignment would not have been so noticeable had the collar been round or square or if it had been stitched on a yoke.  But with the echoed “V” so near, it was very obvious.

The Quattro has a built in camera.  With this incredible feature, the  camera locates the cross hairs of the “snowman” sticker that is placed at the very center of my design area.  The camera perceives even slight placement inaccuracies and makes the correction by rotating the design however many degrees are necessary.  Is that not wonderful and amazing?

We are in the “getting to know you” mode right now and the more I read, the more awestruck I am.  Edge sewing, print and stitch, huge embroideries…… The list goes on and on.  I can’t wait for Quattro and me to become BFF’s!

NEW TECHNIQUE!!! My granddaughter’s Easter dress seemed to be an appropriate first project to help us get acquainted.  Pictures of “shadow smocking,”  posted on Pinterest caught my eye.  Note: If you don’t know about Pinterest, check it out here. Continue reading →

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Posted in heirloom sewing, smocking, techniques, uncategorized

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