Happy Monday morning, everyone! Can you believe we're starting the last week of January? And *poof* just like that one twelfth of the year is gone!
About five and a half years ago I shared a post here at the Cafe that I called, "Quilts, Pieces, and Memories." In that blog I wrote, "I wanted to call this post, "Among the Things I Used to Do." (Go here to read that post!)
I guess you could call this post the second in a series. :-) Because not only have I started working on the quilt I mentioned in that post again, I've also resurrected another favorite craft.
Long, long ago when we lived in Texas, one of my friends was a smocker. She offered to teach a couple of us, and I was in heaven! I was able to make two dresses for my daughter before we moved, and I enjoyed it so much.
When we moved, I lost my access to a smocking pleater. And with the birth of our third child just before that move and our fourth child a couple months after that move, I, well, ran out of time and energy.
But the pleater was the main thing. I tried to find someone who I could pay to pleat my fabric, but was never able to make the connection. Smocking became one of those "things I used to do."
Many years went by, then a few years ago my dear husband was able to find this pleater for me at a reasonable price (I love used items!) I was so excited to start smocking again, but I had book contracts, weddings, dogs...and too many excuses.
This year I made up my mind: If I wanted to do the things I enjoyed, I needed to make time for them. So out came the forgotten quilting project!
It's amazing how much you can get done in one hour a week!
Then a friend had a baby girl...and another friend had another baby girl...and I decided it was time to dust off my smocking skills. Keep in mind that it had been nearly thirty years since I had first learned to smock!
I got my pleater out, but was immediately lost. I couldn't even remember how to thread it! YouTube came to the rescue! (I love that place!)
I wrestled with my aging brain and memory, and dove in...
I learned how to move the needles in the pleater to pleat half rows - an indispensable skill when smocking baby outfits.
After a couple practice runs with scrap fabric, I pleated the material for my project.
I adjusted the pleats so that this skirt would fit into the yoke in my pattern and tied off the pleating threads. Then I was ready to start. Smocking is just a form of embroidery, with its own types of stitches. The smocking keeps the pleats in place after you remove the pleating threads.
Hmmm, I can see the mistakes, but I guess it isn't too bad for my first try after so long!
Once the smocking was done, I could start sewing the little sundress together.
And here it is, nearly done. I still need to sew the side seams. And I need to hurry! This dress is for little Ella, but little Ruthie's baby shower is next week and I haven't started her outfit yet!
But now that I've refreshed this skill in my memory, the next smocking project should be a little bit quicker.
After the smocking projects are done, and the quilt wall-hanging is finished, I'll resurrect another craft I used to do...
Needle-felting, anyone? This little guy was my first attempt about seven years ago. I'd love to make some of the cute items I've seen on Pinterest!
Do you have a list of "things I used to do?" Are there any that you would like to start doing again?
Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband. They enjoy hiking in the Hills when the weather cooperates, and when it doesn't, they just drink in the beautiful view from their back porch. When Jan isn't giving life to the characters who live in her head, she enjoys all kinds of needlework. Find out about her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com, and find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JanDrexlerAuthor
