This little outfit made from pattern #134 got a lot of attention at Martha Pullen School. The outfit is made from navy and white twill. The twill fabric has enough body that it constructs well without being to thick for the pleater. Instead of doing a smocked inset across the front of the garment I made a smaller inset and stitched flat fabric to either side.
I pleated an inset with 8 rows (including the holding rows) and 52 pleats. Then I sized and tied off the inset so that it was about 3 inches wide. Next, I smocked the "Sea Turtle" and stitched 2 pieces of piping on each side of the smocking.
Navy fabric was then stitched on each side of the inset and pressed it out flat.
Following the pattern instructions, stitch piping to the top and bottom of the fabric piece and continue construction the outfit.
This is an easy alternative when you don't have a lot of time for smocking or if you are concerned that your smocked turtles will all be different sizes! The most difficult time I had with the project was deciding how to add color to the collar. After a couple of false starts I ended up doing a simple Running Stitch with 3 strands of floss.
Michie'
3 comments:
I love this little outfit! Smocked, traditional, not too fussy, but still so cute! Thanks for the detailed instructions!
Thanks so much for these directions. Your patterns are my favorite for babies. Instructions are so clear and simple and fit well too.
I love this design. The pictures are so wonderful to illustrate what you did. What strikes me as especially lovely about this outfit is the simple turtle design. It is just one little turtle, not three parading across the chest. Less is better in this case because it stands out more. The dark color is unusual to compliment turtle colors, but the contrast comes out lovely. BEAUTIFUL!
Julie
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