Sew Beautiful Magazine

* This article can be found in Sew Beautiful Issue #120, September / October 2008 *
For a printable PDF version of this article, click here

By Janet Gilbert

Kids spend a lot more time in sweats than they do in our meticulously stitched finery. Here, Janet Gilbert shows you how to get more mileage out of your smocking by adding an insert to a ready-made knit. Don’t stall at basketball; smocking motifs are seemingly endless, and if you’re really pressed for time, check out the “Cyber Smocking” article on page 66.

Design: Adding a Smocked Insert to a Ready-made Knit

IN THE ARTICLE
• Materials List
• Construction Using Insert

ON THE CENTERFOLD
• Smocking Graph and Instructions
(click to download)

MATERIALS LIST
• Purchased sweatshirt (navy blue shown)
• Ready-made piping (one package)
• Thread to match piping
• Thread to match sweatshirt
• 6-inch square German interfacing
• 1/2 yd navy blue Kona cotton (insert and lining)
• Lace-shaping board
• Wash-away Wonder Tape™ by Dritz®
• Wash-away marking pen or chalk marker
• Soft pencil
• Sharp scissor
• DMC perle cotton (black #8)
• DMC Six-strand Embroidery Cotton
(see graph on centerfold for floss list)

For a printable PDF version of this article, click here

About the Designer
Janet Gilbert is a smocking designer from Vienna, Illinois and loves to design and sew for her daughter. She is a commissioned designer for Sew Beautiful and often contributes her own designs in the magazine. She is an active member of SAGA (the Smocking Arts Guild of America).

1. Block smocking so that it is perfectly square. Steam and dry.

CONSTRUCTION

NOTE: My insert measured 3-3/4-inches across and 3-1/2-inches vertically. Yours may be slightly different.

2. Baste piping to each edge of insert using Wonder Tape™. Remove cording from seam allowances so that cords meet at corners, then machine stitch piping using a grooved foot getting as close as possible to cord using thread to match piping fabric.

3. Mark vertical and horizontal centers on a 6-inch square of German interfacing. Mark rectangle on interfacing centering measurement of insert from piping edge to piping edge vertically and horizontally on non-sticky side. Draw a line on German interfacing 1/2-inch inside of outside rectangle.

4. Mark insert placement on wrong side of sweatshirt with vertical and horizontal center lines.

5. With sticky side of interfacing facing wrong side of sweatshirt, align vertical and horizontal center lines of sweatshirt to vertical and horizontal lines on interfacing square. Fuse interfacing to sweatshirt.

6. Stitch along outer lines with a 1.5 stitch length and cut out along inside lines. Clip each corner to, but not through stitching.

7. Turn sweatshirt right side out. Press seam allowances to back creating a window for smocked insert.

8. Place Wonder Tape® around piping on right side of insert. Place smocked insert inside of window on sweatshirt aligning edges of piping to edges of sweatshirt window. Double check that design is straight. Topstitch insert to sweatshirt along fold edges of opening with matching thread (I double topstitched the edges).

FINISH

Turn sweatshirt inside out and trim seam allowances to neaten. To ensure there is nothing scratchy inside the sweatshirt, cut a lining out of cotton fabric, fold edges to wrong side and hand whip over insert to cover seams. —SB