Laser-like focus....

[femkes_follies]

Heh.

Sometimes talking with somebody else helps me achieve it. ;-)

Next web site additions, with luck, will be:

Basic smocking
Smocking in Germanic costume
German Smocked shirt tutorial
Honeycomb smocking - maybe a ladies' chemise

Thoughts?

Comments

[eleanor-deyeson.livejournal.com]

Are you on the Pleatwork yahoo group? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pleatwork/

It's not really lively, but a number of people who are working in Pleatwork are on it, and there are several nice instructional pages that people have.

I think that people this direction (Calontir & any of the Gulf Wars kingdoms) are using the phrase Pleatwork to differentiate from Smocking as it is more modernly understood. There have been several years of Pleatwork classes at Gulf Wars.

I also have found a number of images of German pleatwork garments, that I've got stashed in my computer files. If you're interested, I'll pull them up, and give you the links to them. I found all of them online, but I can't remember off hand from which archives.

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure just how different modern smocking is from period. ;-) Though there aren't TOO many modern examples of honeycomb smocking, it does happen.

I want to approach it from the perspective of making the garment. So, brief coverage of the basics, then a finished garment.

Always looking for new images. ;-)

Smocked neck shirts are really, really common. What's going on under the gold collars in the saxon dresses is less apparent. I'm not sure that it's a smocked NECK - but I'd buy a cable stitch to hold the pleats where the shirt meets the collar. Especially given the Dutch shirts with the whitework collars that are clearly NOT smocked.

I have my own method of construction - all rectangles and squares, and it works our remarkably well. Sometimes I even cheat and use the selvedge edge and don't have to hem the top edge.

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Oh, and yes, I'm on that list. ;-)

I just think there's always room for another perspective.

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

I could send you the pleatwork doc that Rainillt put together. I think she lives in Ohio, but in my mind that is like next door to where you live right? She credits me in the document.

I think Rainillt came up with the word pleatwork because the period German word for it is fitzarbeit (pleatwork). I think she makes a pretty good case for leaving in the smocking threads. I think I also shared an image of honeycomb smocking though.

On the high necked gold shirts - inventories show that the collar bands are separate items presumably removed for washing of the garment. I don't think there is 'one true way'. The method I use everytime now is to put a linen band on the inside of the smocking to hold it in place. Works great and there is an extant example too.

I think a tutorial is a wonderful idea!

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Heh. I don't actually know THAT many Ohio peeps - it's about a 4 hour drive to the nearest corner of OH. More like 8 to the other side.

I had her stuff once, but I think it was on the now-dead computer, so another copy would be nice. I've also seen your article in the newsletter for Garden Fairies smocking (Where I'm known to get supplies.

I'd be interested to see why she thought to leave the threads. I suspect it's because it eliminates the need to back smock. The trade-off is that you utterly lose the flexibility of the piece in so doing.

I suspect you're right about there being no "one, true way" with the collars. Though I can make a good case for a plain linen collar under the gold band, too. I'd probably do a smocked cable stitch around the edge where the shirt meets the collar to tame the pleats.

Tutorial-wise, I'm sort of thinking about 3 -
Wide-necked smocked mens' shirt (I've only see a couple of examples of women's chemises that look like they MIGHT be done this way)
High-necked collared shirt with the shirred yoke (The one that often goes with the Dutch upperclass or Cranach gowns)
Landsknecht honeycomb-collared women's chemise

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Nice to know that my sniveling lack of knowledge is paying off... ;)

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

It wasn't a lack of knowledge. Remember - I have two little girls. I did a raft of smocking before ever I got into the SCA.

I've even found at least one portrait that I can see well enough to reproduce the smocking pattern.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* Just to be clear - I was talking about *MY* lack of knowledge. You are clearly a kung-fu smocking masta and I am but your humble apprentice. *wink* Just glad that you are willing to share honey!

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

*l* No, I meant that it would have surprised me if you HAD known a lot about smocking. It's pretty under-represented so far in the SCA. So, unless you had a mundane reason to learn - and 99% of mundane smocking is little girl-related.

I'm also addicted to "Australian Smocking and Embroidery." Well, all the Country Bumpkin publications, really. It's sad for me, personally, that the exchange rate has shifted. It used to be really economical to buy them, even with overseas shipping. It's still worth checking their website for fabrics, though. It's the only place I've EVER see wool chiffon.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Wool chiffon you say....

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Yep. The unfortunate thing is that they are not, strictly, a fabric store. They stock the fabrics for the projects in that month's magazines. Then, when they sell out, it's gone. Unless another project comes along and they buy more. So it's hit-or-miss. But nice stuff.