More Smocking

While I'm on the subject, I'd like to share more of my smocking that was published in this book back in 1982 ...

It was written by my sister-in-law, Dianne, who had introduced me to smocking. I had taken to this stitchery like a duck to water.  I found it much more interesting to do than counted cross-stitch, as well as much faster to complete a project than needlepoint canvas work and crewel embroidery.  By the time this book was published I had been teaching smocking for a few years. I found ways to incorporate it into the ethnic influenced style of clothing that I wore, since I had no daughters to smock for.  Just about all those garments found their way into this book.

It was a peasant blouse Dianne was stitching that initially piqued my interest.  My first smocking was done on the blouse I wore on the cover of my workbook. I loved that style as well as doing the smocking, so I made a number of them.  This one features a design concept that I developed ... plaid smocking.

These two nightgowns are variations of the round yoke style for the raglan sleeve style of the peasant blouse.

 

The adjacent page has the "map" for the stitch placement on graph paper to make that particular design.  Graphing of smocking designs was another concept that I developed.

The cocktail dress in the center is one I made of a silky synthetic jersey knit.  It was the first project to which I added beads and stitched with a thick shiny synthetic thread ... a departure from 3 strands of cotton floss on cotton fabric.

The one on left I made as a wedding dress for a friend's second marriage.  It's made of silk satin backed crepe and stitched with silk twist thread.

Dianne and I both made dresses from the published pattern she designed. They have hoods that you can't see in the photos.  Fun to wear!

I designed and constructed the sundress on the left for my friend, Alicia.  She did the smocking, though.  The one in the center was one of my favorites and I wore it for several summers.  The pretty one on the right was my experiment in coordinating a smocking design to the border print in the cotton fabric.

I wore this gingham blouse with a denim skirt or white slacks.

I still have the child's blouse and would've liked my granddaughter to wear it.  However by the time it fit her, she had developed a different taste in clothes.

Here are thumbnails of those garments in color ...

It was fun for me to revisit this part of my life through this book.  I hope you enjoyed it, too.

Smocking - A Trip Down Memory Lane

The post I wrote about being happy to be a mother started a trip down memory lane.  In retrospect I appreciate that it was a beneficial time to be a mother.  Society accepted broader roles for women, plus many of us had the choice of staying home  with the kids or working outside the home.  I attribute satisfaction with my motherhood  to being an at home mom with the luxury of having time, money, and energy to pursue my interest in needlework.  The beginning of my serious involvement was when the boys were about 8 and 10 years old.  Initially, it was teaching classes around my dining room table.  Eventually, that expanded to evening courses at the local college campuses and then to workshop and lecture tours around the country and Canada.  As the saying goes, "If Mama ain't happy, nobody's happy".  The balance of  my home life and involvement in the needlework world made me happy.
 

During my "prime time" years (mid 70's through the 80's), English smocking dominated my life. I taught the technique in 6-week long classes on three Milwaukee Technical College campuses. The photo above is the cover and introduction page of the book I wrote.  It's in a workbook format that reflects the 6-week session for beginners.  I had intended to write another for the advanced class, Series II, but never did.  My husband and best friend posed in the photos with me to save on modeling fees.

During that time I also wrote booklets as well as designed kits (Christmas ornaments and Easter eggs) and clothing patterns for smocking.   Those were produced and published by a company called Little Miss Muffet. This one for doll clothes is based on the most popular smocked outfits for children.

The models are the first two dolls in what ended up being an extensive collection.  I named them after my niece and nephew who's mother, Dianne Durand, had introduced me to this beautiful needlework skill.  Dianne owned and ran the Little Miss Muffet company.  She and I along with several other young mothers founded the Smocking Arts Guild of America* (SAGA).

There were also two books that included the patterns for doll clothes. "Book I" featured the "Kalico Kid" doll family.

The storybook tale of the Kalico family takes place during the Great Depression. In the story a well-off aunt sends a box of cast-off clothes to her sister, which was my inspiration for making these garments.

"Book II" features the Fischer Price "Best Friends" and Sasha dolls that were popular back then ...

The back cover featured the matching dresses I had designed and made for the little girl who lived next door to us.  Here's the centerfold picturing all the outfits offered.

It pleases me to see these books listed on eBay now and then. It's a secondary market, because they haven't been published for many years ... about as many years as I haven't been smocking.


*I'm happy to report that SAGA is still going strong even though none of us founders are involved. The way I see it, that's akin to good parenting ...  we each gave many years of work and  devotion to establish a good foundation so it could survive and thrive into the future.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm happy!  I've been a happy mother since my older son was born back in 1966 and my younger one two years later.

 1968

I was happy with my boys throughout their childhood.

1978(?)

Even through their teenage years.

1985

I very much enjoyed their young adulthood.

1991

I'm happy being the mother of these two fine grown men.

2010

I'm happy to be mother-in-law to their wives.

2009

And "Granellie" to their children.

2009

I wish all of my friends who are also mothers and my daughters-in-law a joyous and peaceful Happy Mother's Day.

Lake #69

It's been a while since I've added to my series of 100 lake quilts.

Lake #69 - 19"x 14"

All the fabric pieces it's composed of came from the scrap bag on the right in this photo.

There are quite a few people who save their scraps for my "ortwork" quilts.  This bag is special in that it came to me through my friend, Tone Haugen-Cogburn.  These scraps are from her student's projects made in the workshop she recently taught at the John C. Campbell Folk Art School in North Carolina.  Collecting them for me was initiated by Julie who reads this blog.  To see the projects from which these scraps came, as well as photos of the school grounds, go to Julies photo album.

The two boxes on the left in the above photo have scraps separated out from the bag for two projects.  The bottom one is for an upcoming project that needs larger pieces, while the top one has the size and color of scraps to make lake pieces.  Here's the state of this lake piece midway through the process. Yarn and wool roving are added to the scraps to give definition to the clouds and crests on the waves.

It was made as a house present for friends who used to live near Lake Michigan.  We spent the night with them in Hendersonville, North Carolina on our way to South Carolina.

That spot isn't where it's going to "live".  We took down an art piece so I could show her how to hang "Lake #69".

We stopped in Asheville to visit our favorite galleries, New Morning and the Blue Spiral ... and yes, we bought something, but it's still in its wrapping so there's no photo.  But I do have a picture of a car we saw in traffic on the way from one gallery to the other.

There was a stoplight, so I got to speak to the driver.  She had "beaded" it herself.  What a hoot!

Paperdolls at the Royal Wedding

We were at an annual 3-day gathering with a bunch of friends during the time of the royal wedding.

Before going Lee and I had the idea of making paper dolls with our friend's faces.

Each friend was presented their paper doll wrapped with an invitation to the wedding.

The day before the wedding we had fun dressing our "mini-me's" for the big event.  We ladies created outfits from the colored papers and fancy trims that I had brought for this project.

The guys got to choose from different outfits that I had printed from a paper doll book featuring Chuck and Di's wedding.  In fact, all our doll's bodies are theirs, as well.  You can see that book on the corner of table next to Lee who is gluing metallic trim to the braids on his uniform.

These paper dolls were featured as the center piece for the table.  Here's the first night's table decor.

 

One of the ladies celebrated her birthday the next day.  The bouquet of roses from her husband was perfect for us to gather around in our finery.  That couple had the honor of standing next to Prince Philip and the Queen.

The last day I lined all the dolls up for a group shot.

In reality, we ladies donned hats the day of the wedding.

I had worn the pink feathered one during the very early morning ceremony.  Lee wore his best Elvis necktie with his night clothes.

Later in the day we dressed more appropriately.

Well, I did anyway.

....................................................

The frivolity of our tongue-in-cheek play with the royal wedding was a welcome distraction from the devastating weather raging through the south.  All of us had personal connections and worry for what was going on "back home" and to people we cared about who lived close to where those tornadoes touched down.

Lee and I came home to find many of our trees nearly stripped of their leaves, those leaves piled several inches deep all over the ground, marble sized dings in our newly painted siding and Volkswagen, broken outside light fixtures, and screens full of holes.  Thank goodness we were spared broken windows, downed trees ... and tornado touchdowns.