The past 2 weeks.

I first want to say that I know my blogs have been dreadfully neglected and it's breaking my heart.  With all the things going on around here I have sooo much to blog about, but so little time to do it.  No time, in fact.  As I type my mind is on the 1/2 bushel of peaches I'm hoping will still be good enough to make cobblers with tomorrow, to freeze.  I've got 2 batches of peach jam sitting on the deep freezer, along with some canned tomatoes I did today.  Daniel made the jam, it was his first time to ever make jam and I am so proud of him.

We had a county fair last weekend where we placed in the top 3 in many categories with baked goods, canned goods, garden vegetables, sewn items & photography.  Our daughters were in pageants.  They had fun wearing their Sunday best outfits.  The bishop dress Carolina is wearing is the one I made in my tutorial.  It placed 2nd in the smocking category of the county fair competition.  I collected my ribbon and my dress and put it on her, then she proceeded to win first place in the pageant.  Kai got a participation trophy and is so excited to have it sitting on the shelf next to her soccer trophy.  We've started school and had homework every night for the past two weeks.  We've started Girl Scouts (Daisy's to be precise) and Ballet/Tap lessons, Boy Scouts for our son as well as T-Ball, going to a new church, growing a garden at my daddy's house, and spending nearly every other night visiting with family.  I seriously don't think I've spent a single day home, without leaving the house, in over two months at the very least.  We've also had 3 pets pass away during this time.

I was able to make their first day of school outfits and Kai's backpack.  I had already made Delsin's.

I could go on and on.  I really want to update this blog soon.  I sincerely hope I can find the time to get it done.  But there's a couple of sad pear trees at a lot across the street where the house burned down years ago.  They are sad because they have no one to pick their ripe pears, so Kai and I are going to take some grocery sacks with us to ballet practice so that we can stop by and pick them on our walk back home.  Then of course we have to make some pear jam, or pear honey.  I'll try to keep my blog updated about it and add something else too.

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part Sweet 16 - Sleeves, Placket, & Review Of The Final Dress & Lessons Learned

I want to apologize for not posting a new video sooner.

I've found out I'm pregnant and that explains why I'm falling asleep every time I sit down for a couple of minutes.  Also, my baby is crawling now too.  Whew!  She's a cute mess, as you'll see in this final video, she's into everything.  She kept going after the tripod every time I tried to video while sewing.  I couldn't watch this video without laughing so hard my stomach hurt.  Between the baby, the cat, and the number of times I had to retake because my dog was making a lot of noise it was hilarious to watch it.  Thankfully, I think I got all the dog noises out of the final cut. 

Thank you so much for following along.

It's been a blast.

Here is the video I mentioned that shows how to starch the pleating before smocking.
Here is a tutorial about doing a placket, very differently from what I *think* the pattern I'm using says to do.  I say *think* because I'm still confused, to be honest.  But this tutorial makes more sense, to me.  So, this is what I'll be trying on the next dress I make.
Here is a video about the neck bias, from the same helpful person.


*UPDATE*
I made a 2nd dress in just a few days, for my older daughter.  This time I kept the dress on the neck guide, but I drew the neck guide on a piece of cardboard.  So, while I was doing the smocking the dress was pinned to this big piece of cardboard.  It was a Priority mail box, actually.  One just big enough to put the neck guide on.  It came out so great and so much faster.  Of course I would expect it to come out faster, but I'm gonna do this step from now on.

OK, now I'm just showing off my sweet family.

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 15 ~ Leaves and Rose Buds (Lazy Daisy stitches and French Knot stitches)

Here are the links to the sites that I used to help me understand how to do these stitches:
The lazy daisy stitch is for making the leaves.
How to make a Lazy Daisy stitch (what I googled)
How to make a Lazy Daisy stitch smocking (what I googled)

The french knot is for making the tiny rose buds.
I wrapped around the needle twice instead of just once as shown in this link.  It makes for a little bit bigger rose bud.
How to make a french knot
How to make a french knot smocking

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 14 ~ Vines and Roses

I wanted to share the link to the helpful site I've told you about.  This seems to be the most informative, easy to follow site for me to check my guesses against. 
http://www.southern-stitches.com/Bullions.html

Bishop Dress Part 13 ~ More two step trellis stitches

Bishop Dress Sew Along ~ Part 12, 2 Step and 5 Step Trellis stitching

Before I get to today's video I wanted to share the links to the helpful pages I've been using.

I wanted to do it the other night, but I can't figure out how to add text when "sharing" a video on youtube.com.  However, I just realized I can copy and paste the encoding, rather than click on the "share" button on the youtube.com website.

http://www.oocities.org/wellesley/3351/smkstch2.html

http://www.southern-stitches.com/Tutorials_2.html

http://www.mariegracedesigns.com/marie_grace/2009/03/handpleating-fabric-tutorial.html

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 11 ~ Smocking The Trellis Stitch

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 10 ~ Smocking With A Cable Stitch

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 9 - Gathering the neck pleats

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 8 - Pleating the bodice

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 7 - Marking the bodice for pleating

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 6 - Getting ready to pleat the bodice neck.

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 5 - Pleating and attaching the sleeves

Bishop Sew Along Part 4 Preparing the side pleats

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 3 - Getting Your Fabric Ready

This video is demonstrating and instructing the steps involving cutting your pattern from fabric.

Bishop Dress Sew Along Part 2

I got a little hung up on cutting pattern pieces out, yesterday.

The following video will explain what my issue was, and hopefully help you if you have the same question.

Bishop Sew Along - Part 1

Using "The Bishop" pattern by Pat Garretson, I'm about to begin my first attempt at Smocking.

Please join me.
I'm making "Alexandra" (view 1)

Click here to go to Ms. Garretson's website.

Please excuse the darkness in the video.  The important stuff is clearly visible.

A Bishop Dress Sew Along! Join Me!

I'm so excited and a little scared a the same time.  I've never smocked before.  I just bought a pattern from Pat Garretson.  She lives here in Georgia, in a town that I used to live in.  Smyrna.  I've been doing a lot of researching on smocking in the past week.   I came across some smocking patterns.  Pat's pattern caught my eye because it had so many variations in the photograph.  It also has bonnet patterns and my Kai loves to wear bonnets.  This is one we picked up at a consignment store.  I'm looking forward to making another one for her.  One to match her bishop dress.  She'll love that. 

So the many different styles of bishop dresses and matching bonnets, along with the many embroidery patterns too.  When I looked further and noticed it was written for beginners my hopes began to rise even more. The website I was on charged $8.00 for shipping.  I thought that sounded high for a pattern, so I decided to try ebay and etsy and google to see where else I might find a better deal.  That's when I found Pat's website. http://www.patgarretsonheirlooms.com/bishop%20pattern.htm Then, I noticed Smyrna, Ga.  I knew it was my choice.  I love to support locally whenever I can.  Not to mention, she only charges $5.00 in shipping.  Through my conversations with Ms. Garretson I've discovered that there are even more variations of dresses in this pattern than mentioned.  She said the pattern weighs 1/2 a pound and that is why the shipping is so high.  It's for beginners, so it's supposed to have really good instructions.  If not, there's always youtube.



As I began to check out I thought it wasn't going to charge me shipping, so I tried to call her phone number.  It was busy.  I tried it several more times, afraid to go ahead and not pay shipping.  I was also worried too that perhaps she had neglected her website, like I have neglected mine lately. 

When I finally got her on the phone I was so pleased to hear such a friendly voice on the other end of the line.  She was so helpful with my questions, and told me my shipping would be halved if I mailed in a check.  I wanted to use a gift card, so I paid through Paypal. 

I have decided to do this as a sew along.  I have no experience with smocking.  None at all.  I would like to start this project in two weeks.  Provided I have my pattern by then.  I'm extending this invitation to any one else that wants to take this journey with me and learn how to smock with me.  I'm going to upload pictures and or videos daily.  I have a strong feeling this is going to be a several day project.

I want to wait 2 weeks so that everyone who wants to has time to get your supplies.  Click the link above to get your Bishop and Bonnets pattern.