Mary De Revisited

Samuel Robert Braithwaite arrived on October 9th, weighing 8 lbs 10 oz.
Meredith is starting to feel better, and everyone is quite smitten with little Sammy.

  Adelaide thinks he is very pretty and can't stop kissing him. Vivi just wants to get the magnets off Auntie's refrigerator. He looked beautiful in his going home outfit....pictures of that later.

Let's get back to Mary De. Today I want to tell you about some issues with cutting and pleating. Here is a picture of the curve on skirt front pattern. In the next picture I have matched the skirt piece to the front yoke lining piece.

You can see that they line up perfectly. The directions say to cut out the front skirt and pleat. First of all if you cut it out with the curve cut out,  it would be very difficult to pleat. Secondly if you then pull up the pleats to smock, the piece would then have a much smaller armhole than the front yoke. SO....cut out or tear your front skirt without cutting or marking the armhole curve, and pleat the desired number of rows. I usually pleat two more rows than I am going to smock; a gathering row at the top and an extra row at the bottom because it is easier to smock the last row if there is a pleated row below it.

Next take the front yoke lining piece, tape it to a window and make a full paper copy. You will end up with this.

Open up your pleated piece to the full width of this piece and tie of your pleating threads. DO NOT TIE OFF YOUR GATHERING ROW AT THE TOP!!! Now you are ready to smock.

When your smocking is complete, remove your pleating threads, BUT NOT THE GATHERING ROW AT THE TOP. You will need to steam your smocked piece to fit, and mark your armhole curves. (No matter how careful you are about your tension, it usually ends up smaller than what your started with. This is not a problem as smocking is quite elastic.)I usually do this right on my ironing board. Once again use the front yoke lining piece. Mine, pictured below is a little wider because I left larger seam allowances to be trimmed later. Pin straight down one side of the smocking spread pleats evenly and open to the width of the pattern piece.

Pin down the other side of the smocking. Keep the top edge in line with the gathering thread. I usually pull that thread to the front at this point. Steam and spray the smocking. I use steam and a spray bottle of water. You can use spray starch, but I think it just makes your dress sticky. Allow to dry, overnight if necessary.

Next line up the skirt pattern piece with your smocked piece and mark the armhole edge with a washable marker or pencil. Pull the gathering thread to a bit more than 1/4 inch inside the armhole marking. The pin in the picture marks the poin to which I have pulled my gathering thread. Tie ONE side of the gathering thread in a big knot and trim off the remainder.

This is as far as I want to go today. I will continue as I construct this Mary De.

However, I do want to say that there is an alternative to this method. If you are making larger than a sized four, and your fabric is only 45 inches wide, you may not be able to have the smocking continue under the arm. (If your fabric is 45" and you want your smocking to continue under the arm, you can add two side panels before pleating.) But if the smocking is not going to go all the way to the side seam, cut out and pleat the skirt as above. Then pull the pleated fabric out flat and mark the armhole curves at this point. Pull the gathering threads out, back to 1/4" inside this line, and continue to pull them back to the same pleat down the length of the rows. Adjust the pleats to the front yoke piece, rather than the lining, and tie them off. Again, DO NOT TIE OFF THE GATHERING THREAD. Smock and then steam to the width of the front yoke piece, with the flat armhole area off to each side. Frankly I really like this dress smocked all the way to the side seam, so it is worth it to me to add the side panels. And there are so many fabrics that are 54 or 60 inches wide that this is seldom a problem. There is also a technique for doing this dress with a smocked insert, rather than the smocked skirt, but I would advise making the smocked skirt one or two times before attempting the insert.

The fabric I am using for my Mary De  is a brushed twill. Adelaide loves it because it is soft, us grown up types like it because it is warm. You will find it listed under twills, then individual fabrics will be listed as brushed twill. 

More later this week. Happy sewing!