{"id":2615,"date":"2013-11-09T13:29:49","date_gmt":"2013-11-09T18:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/?p=2615"},"modified":"2013-11-09T16:15:31","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T21:15:31","slug":"a-peep-at-bo-peep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/?p=2615","title":{"rendered":"A Peep at Bo Peep"},"content":{"rendered":"

I usually keep a bit of smocking in my car so that when I’m playing taxi, I’ve got something to work on while I’m sitting on the sidelines of whatever destination I’ve shuttled the boylets.<\/p>\n

My latest project is a picture smocked design that I will be submitting in the new year as part of my Artisan program<\/a> evaluation.<\/p>\n

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I’ve been working away at accruing the necessary points through workshops, articles for SAGA News and my correspondence courses. \u00a0If everything goes according to plan, I’ll be ready to submit in the New Year. \u00a0One of the challenges with the Artisan program (besides getting over the fear that they’re going to be judging you on *every* *single* *detail*) is making sure that you provide examples of all of the required elements between your two garments and your smocked sample.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s a bit like Tetris. \u00a0You’ve got a bunch of ‘gotta smocks’ that you need to include: Van Dyke, bullions, feather and chain stitch, bars, spools, honeycomb, herringbone etc. and figuring out where and when to use them is the puzzle.<\/p>\n

Bo Peep is my smocked sample. \u00a0It won’t be shown to the evaluators as part of a finished garment.<\/p>\n

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The fabric is a very narrow blue and white printed stripe, which I hand pleated to avoid distortion. \u00a0I did 31 rows (29 + 2 holding) 3\/8″ apart. \u00a0I had planned on using gingham but for the life of me I couldn’t find a 100% cotton 1\/8″ check in the right shade of blue. \u00a0This works equally well and I like the sense of movement the alternating pleats of blue and white give.<\/p>\n

I know Bo’s looking a bit bald. \u00a0She will have hair and a bonnet. \u00a0And a skirt. \u00a0And a second foot. \u00a0And lots of embroidered flowers and curlicues. \u00a0But I’ve only just started the picture smocking. \u00a0I’ve completed most of the backsmocking, using two strands of floss to work rows of mirrored cable across the insert. \u00a0It stabilizes the pleats and it’s very inconspicuous from the right side.<\/p>\n

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I’ve also started on the geometric stitches: Van Dyke and Surface Honeycomb for the band below her feet and then above her, a band of Closed Herringbone and five rows of Honeycomb.<\/p>\n

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Because of the depth of the insert, if I ever end up using this in a garment, \u00a0it will be in a full yoke style, rather than in a partial yoke dress.<\/p>\n

Of course, what would Bo Peep be without some sheep? \u00a0She’s going to have two of them eventually, one on either side. \u00a0And what do you think of when you think of sheep? \u00a0Well, take a peep at this! (sorry, but I couldn’t not say it :P) \u00a0It’s a skein of Caron Collections Impressions in white. \u00a0Impressions is a 50% wool\/50% silk thread and it’s lovely. \u00a0I worked with it taking my exotic smocking course and as soon as I conceived of the design for the sampler, I knew I would use it to make these sheep extra wooly.<\/p>\n

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So slowly, slowly Bo Peep and her sheep are taking shape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I usually keep a bit of smocking in my car so that when I’m playing taxi, I’ve got something to work on while I’m sitting on the sidelines of whatever destination I’ve shuttled the boylets. My latest project is a picture smocked design that I will be submitting in the new year as part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[166,221,220,123,301],"class_list":["post-2615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-smocking","tag-artisan-program","tag-hand-pleating","tag-nursery-rhymes","tag-picture-smocking","tag-smocking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2615"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2652,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions\/2652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}