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

[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