Finished Quilts

Saturday 8 March 2014

smock

Finally, the lurgy is getting bored with me, I think!   What it has taught me is that I can't sew when I'm poorly - mistakes happen more often than normally.  I am also regretting not taking my pelvic floor exercises during my pregnancy pilates classes more seriously #TMI.

Anyway, this morning I feel able to sew and add up so have started my swap pouch.  The East Midlands Modern Quilty ladies are having a swap with the Saskatoon MQG.  I wanted to try out a bit of fabric manipulation and this is what I've got so far:



 Not the best photo, obvs.  But here's a wee tutorial on how to create this effect.

I wanted to have 3 pleats and for each pleat to be 1 inch wide so cut the following

3 x 1.5" essex linen
2 x 1.25" liberty fabric (you could make these a bit wider if you want)
2 x 2.5" liberty fabric


Sew these together so you end up with....

I added the rest of the pouch fabric on either side

Then using the seam on the first pleat as a guide, mark a line 0.5" to the right of the seam

I used a frixion pen - I hope you can see the lines
Fold the pleat in half, lining up the seams, pin and sew....



Repeat for each of the pleats and you should end up with this....


Then find some nice thread (perle or similar) and start to smock by pulling either side of the pleat together and sewing a few stitches over and over.  I used red thread and started the stitch about 1/8" from the seams on the pleat...


You could add buttons at this stage if you want.  You could make the smocking uneven.  Lots of options.  I am still trying to decide whether to so the same for the other side or not.



Anyway, I hope you are all having a good weekend. I'm off do do some ...ahem... exercises... and clench!

19 comments:

  1. Nice job. Good use of the clover clips.

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  2. Looks fab - thanks for the instructions!

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  3. That's amazing! What a great effect!

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  4. Looks fab, and thx for sharing on the pfm exercise front ;o)

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  5. That looks so pretty! Really cool and creative effect and nice fabrics!

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  6. Really beautiful! Tho must admit a bit stumped when you fold pleat in half and sew, and where you're sewing in the picture below?

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  7. Ooh this is lovely! The flash of red from the clover clips looks fab, perhaps you should do some red thick perle stitching to smock it? It's given me the wanties to try this too!

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  8. this has a lovely effect, reminds me of Jenny Rayment style

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  9. that's so cool! I love it :-)

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  10. This is looking good - I'll hide my super simple pouch at the back I think x

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  11. Love love love although I may be in need of a few PF exercises as well ;-)

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  12. So with you on the PF front! Loving the pleats - blooming' gorgeous :)

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  13. It look fab moira! Great tute, thanks for sharing

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  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. I'm taking that as a warning! ;-) Love the smocking, it's a really interesting and pretty effect x

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  16. Looks gorgeous! I love the print fabric peaking through. Very nice effect.

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  17. Ah that's so pretty! I want to have a go - is that a linen weight fabric you've used on top?

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