Smocking Tutorial

I recently made a dress for my daughter and used some smocking on top.  There aren't many tutorials out there on how to do it, so I thought I would show you how I did it.

First you need to know the size, for every inch of smocking you want 3 inches of fabric, but stop half way through smocking to see where you are at and if you need less, I did.
I made a grid of 1 inch squares with a water soluble fabric marker from Clover.

Mark on the back of your fabric, and add these dash lines through, this is the direction your needle will go through.  I did 30 inches from left to right and 9 inches down.

Thread needle and knot only 1 end

go from 1 corner to the other following the direction of the line inside the box

I went 1 row up and then the next row done, and so forth.  Make sure you use thread that closely matches your fabric.

Pull through, squishing the ends to meet and forcing the middle outwards.

Start to tie the knot

I pinched my fingers together to make sure the knot was tight

The fabric is nice and tight

Now clip (cut) AND Repeat.

and slowly

The back starts to look like this.

And the front looks like this!

Don't forget to enter in the birthday party giveaway, if you haven't already.

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The Tammy Blog Hop Starts This Week

Here is the schedule for the Tammy blog hop!

June 12th  ( wednesday)

Tina

Melinda 

Mary

Frederika

Thearica 

Liz

Grethe

Daryl

Patty

Inga 

                                                           

                                              

June 13th ( thursday)

Les

Marlene

Lisa

Anjeanette

Kristen

Marica

Lynn

Gingini

Linda J 

Nicole

June 14th ( friday)

 Bente

Jane

Wendy

Geta

Julia

Jan

Loralynn

Selina

Joan

Mara

Jan 

 June 17th (monday)

  Rosemary

Pauline

Kris

Karen

Pauline

Roxanne

 Vickie

Cherry 

  Martina  

Jane

June 18th (tuesday)

Felicia

Dawn

Carol

Britt-Inger

Kiera

Sharon

Jeanie

Mandy

Theresa

Mdm Samm

Katerina's Birthday Fun!

Kat turned 3 today!  My little girl is getting bigger, in fact she weighs a ton, like a bag of cement.  She weighs the same as Nik and he is 2 1/2 years older.

I made a cheesecake, lucky for me they don't like it so much, and are only eating the cherries that ΓιαΓια made.  This time Nik waited and they blew out the candles together.

I made Katerina a dress, it didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it too, but it's not to bad.  Yesterday when I was finishing it up, Arthur was watching the kids at the tree and I went outside to find her doing this.

Playing with mud!

I had wanted to try the dress on her but we had to do it later after a bath and her she is dancing in her new dress.

Birthday Giveaway!

It's my daughters 3rd Birthday (my little ladybug is getting bigger) and we want to celebrate by giving away 3 of her favorite things, well it could have been 4 if you want a Barbie, but I figured most people would rather not have a Barbie.

3 FQ's from dresses I have made for her.

 I have made my daughter 3 dresses and a new one that you will see later.  My first one used the pink fabric, the second the ladybug fabric and the 3rd the butterfly fabric.

I couldn't find the first dress I made, it's somewhere.

Her other 2 loves in life are Chocolate and Music, we can be walking down the street and she starts dancing, it is so cute.  So I am also including in your little package some Greek Chocolate and some Greek Music that is from this area with the Klarino playing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

June's Goals, Challenges and A Friends Giveaway!

I love making goals and really like it when I can incorporate a challenge into it.

First:  Finish my daughter's birthday dress

That's some smocking going on, I am going to write a tutorial for the dress I am making, it is uber cute and super easy to make, about 3 nap times.

Second:
I need to finish my "I love Tammy bag"  I am kind of waiting on some fabric that should have been here over a month ago, hoping it comes here by this Friday, if not I will have to use some other fabrics.  Look for the blog hop so you can enjoy seeing all of the wonderful Tammy bags.  My day is June 17th, oh %$#@ I just looked and my day changed to the 14th, forget about waiting for fabric, I need to start today!

Third:
3 Challenges this month, the mid month "Le Challenge" is anything about MARITIME, got that one covered and almost finished, hint: a birthday suit.

Then there is the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge going on over at Ellison Lane, the due date for that is June 16th.

And another awesome blog hop, happening all month over at Blossom Heart Quilts the "Kate Spain blog hop".   She is having 2 linky parties, if you have previously made something using Kate Spain fabric then there is a mid month linky party or if you would like to make something this month there is a linky and prize party at the end of the month.  Now I don't own any Kate Spain fabric, but I have admired it, so I went out and ordered some Terrain, really cheap!  You can order some too and make something, go to Tipsy Quilters Etsy shop, she is selling Terrain for $4.20 a YARD!

If you are still here, there is a giveaway going on over at a friends blog SimpleSew, she entered her to cute quilt into a Pinterest contest, go check it out.

Shirley's use of Umbrella Prints Trimmings, made into a baby quilt.

June's Goals and Challenges and a friends giveaway.

I love making goals and really like it when I can incorporate a challenge into it.

First:  Finish my daughter's birthday dress

That's some smocking going on, I am going to write a tutorial for the dress I am making, it is uber cute and super easy to make, about 3 nap times.

Second:
I need to finish my "I love Tammy bag"  I am kind of waiting on some fabric that should have been here over a month ago, hoping it comes here by this Friday, if not I will have to use some other fabrics.  Look for the blog hop so you can enjoy seeing all of the wonderful Tammy bags.  My day is June 17th, oh %$#@ I just looked and my day changed to the 14th, forget about waiting for fabric, I need to start today!

Third:
3 Challenges this month, the mid month "Le Challenge" is anything about MARITIME, got that one covered and almost finished, hint: a birthday suit.

Then there is the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge going on over at Ellison Lane, the due date for that is June 16th.

And another awesome blog hop, happening all month over at Blossom Heart Quilts the "Kate Spain blog hop".   She is having 2 linky parties, if you have previously made something using Kate Spain fabric then there is a mid month linky party or if you would like to make something this month there is a linky and prize party at the end of the month.  Now I don't own any Kate Spain fabric, but I have admired it, so I went out and ordered some Terrain, really cheap!  You can order some too and make something, go to Tipsy Quilters Etsy shop, she is selling Terrain for $4.20 a YARD!

Those are my goals and Challenges for the month of June, Linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes June Goal Setting Party.

If you are still here, there is a giveaway going on over at a friends blog SimpleSew, she entered her to cute quilt into a Pinterest contest, go check it out.

Shirley's use of Umbrella Prints Trimmings, made into a baby quilt.

Say It With Flowers, My Day

Hello Thank you for visiting my blog, I am Mara and I live in Greece.

Just very quickly, if you are in Europe and would like to join a charity quilting bee, we are looking for one more person to join us in our Siblings Together Euro Quilting Bee, more information can be found HERE.

I want to Thank Madame Samm, for having the wonderful idea of this hop and Carol for being our Cheerleader.  THANKS.

My inspiration came from a The Easiest Sew Along Ever Challenge! to use only what you had in your stash and the fact that I got to read this awesome E-book, my very first e-book, but it definitely won't be my last, it was way cool.

My stash, Burlap, Stiff Interfacing, and a Silk Scarf and some beads.

The end result a Burlap Clutch with a Beaded Flower for Decoration.

The book that I reviewed is called Beaded Flowers & Wedding Bouquets by Katie Dean, you can get a copy from ViveBooks, it is easy to download and I just love the embedded videos, it makes it so easy for a visual person to create.  Plus her voice is so soothing with it's light English accent and it makes a great way to rewind after a day of yelling and whining children, I watched the videos multiple times.  I wrote a review of the book and you can find it on Lily's Quilts.

This Flower says:

Thank you

I made the clutch for my step mom, she is very supportive and I love her a lot.  Thank you Rhonda for being there for me.  Her favorite flower is the Tulip in what ever color, my inspiration picture came from the internet, Yellow Tulip by Petr Kratochvil

The exterior of the clutch is made with Burlap, the bottom and sides with flannel and the interior with Silk it makes it a very textural piece.

Just full of texture

silk on the inside.

A Vespa picture for Madame Samm

I love how the flower turned out.

 I would also like to Say it with Flowers:

Congratulations

To my very good friend who is finally pregnant after many losses, I am making something special for her and can not show you the whole reveal since it is part of the Make It Right Challenge.

A vase filled with Cosmos they mean Peaceful, because I hope the new baby brings them peace and is peaceful!

This is stitched using my regular machine foot and with Aurifil Thread.

I would not be able to enter in this challenge if it were not for the support of Rhonda, she gave me an early birthday present, speaking of birthdays, mine and my daughters is coming soon, so stay tuned for a big giveaway.

Check out all of the other lovely blogs making flowers today:

May 28^th

Secretly Stitching You are here :)

Anolisl’s Kreative Seite

I Like To Quilt Blog

Hill Valley Quilter

InGa

Coto Patchwork

Stitching & Stuff

De Quiltborch

Jatajomi’s Stoff-nadel-fadenwelt

Gingini’s Crafts & Quilts

Debby Kratovil Qults

My lovely Jasmine tree, white flowers that smell divine.

Spring Hyacinth and Daffodils and Summer Roses, from my Garden.

Also linking to Such a Sew and Sew May finishes linky party

Sunday Stash

So excited I have another Sunday Stash to show you!  All of my SMS giveaway prizes arrived in the mail on Friday, what a happy mail day.

First some patterns:

"In the Quilt Shop" by Carrie Payne along with 2 fat quarters and some texty fabric for the girls body.  I will be making 3 of these, look at the adorable sewing machine down there, so fun, thank you Carrie from Believemagic.  You can find your pattern here if you would like one.

The Anna Quilt Pattern by Jibberish Designs, I am going to use this pattern for the Euro Siblings Together Bee.  The blocks are simple and yet it is a really cute quilt.  You can find the pattern here if you would like to purchase it for yourself.  Thank you Irelle and your lovely granddaughters who did the picking.

And last but not least
6 Fat Quarters:

Treasures & Tidbits from Robert Kaufman Fabrics that I won from Six White Horses, Thank you so much Anna, they will be "Treasured".
These FQs are sitting on another win from the Green Bag Lady, she gave out 100 bags and it is made with Amy Butler fabric, nice, I am taking it to the market this Friday.

So those were my wins during the recent SMS giveaway, sweet, huh!  I love it!

Linking to Sunday Stash over at Finding Fifth