The Difference Between Hand Smocking and Mass Manufactured

As a follow-up to our post from yesterday, we wanted to show you the difference between someone who took the time to hand smock a dress, and a mass maunfactured item we found in the store.

The first example is an item we found in the store.

The threads are thick and the geometry is way off. It just lacks the care given to a a handcrafted piece.

The next piece is a picture we found on the internet that shows off how well a hand smocked piece looks.

Photo courtesy of "Gabi with an Eye"

You can just see the quality and care that it took to create this dress. It's something that compels you to pass it down through the family, whereas the manufactured piece looks disposable.

This is the quality of needlework that is simply not appreciated anymore. It's a difference you can clearly see.

The "Unappreciated" Art of Needlework

You read that title right, needlework is an art just as much as painting or sculpture. Far too many people think of it as a practical skill; mending shirts, hemming pants, etc. Where as they see fashion as an art, they think crafts like quilting, smocking, embroidery, and tatting can be done by machines and don't need a creative hand. We're far too polite to use the word we want to describe how wrong that it, but trust us, it is.

Just last week we had a customer in the store who created beautiful baby doll dresses that used all sorts of techniques such as hand embroidery, lace insertion and ribbon embroidery. She truly makes beautiful creations. But she bemoaned that no one seemed to value her work. Although she spends hours creating it, people don't want to pay anymore than they would for a mass-manufactured clothing item from Wal-Mart, thinking it's the same thing.

Trust me, kids, it's not.

If clothing, fashion, and home decoration is an expression of who you are, what do you express by purchasing the same outfit or quilt that a hundred of your neighbors have? That's why the personal creation of garments and quilts will always be a better expression of who you are as a person, and expressing oneself is the very soul of art.

The art of needlework begins with the selection of materials. Sure, you can buy a smocked dress from a store, but it simply won't have the same quality materials as will a hand crafted item. To withstand the industrial size machines that churn out dress after dress, they must use coarse fabrics and harsh threads. This practically flies in the face of what smocking really is. Smocking is a delicate art that uses fine materials to make dresses for babies, young girls, and dolls. How can you make a delicate thing with tough materials?

Just like a painter carefully mixes colors to evoke an emotion, hand crafters carefully choose threads, fabrics and patterns to evoke feelings in their work. It's not always as easy as just choosing the right color from the store. Often true artisans will dye their fabrics to match the perfect color for their creation.

There are machines that can replicate heirloom sewing, but the whole point of an heirloom is that it's passed down your family, from your ancestor who made it. Machines aren't ancestors.

And when it comes to art, nothing quite expresses a person's creativity like a quilt. This is where the selection and assemblage of fabrics truly allows a person to pour their souls into a cohesive work. Quilters can do some really amazing things with fabric and needles, and that's why it's so common to hang a wonderful piece on the wall.

We'll be highlighting many of what we consider to be the lost arts of sewing that need to be cherished in upcoming posts. The Sewing Studio does all it can to promote and preserve the heritage of American artistry in needlework.

New Experience Machine Embroidery Class

M-I-C-K-E-Y

Why? Because We Love Disney and Embroidery!

 

We just added a new class to the schedule that we think you will flip for! It's your chance to experience machine embroidery and leave with a t-shirt embroidered with your favorite Disney or Pixar character! That's right, Mickey, Minnie, Buzz, Woody and all of their friends will be featured as part of a class that enables you to test drive a Brother 950D Embroidery machine -- and see how easy and fun machine embroidery really is. Once you start you won't be able to stop!

The class will be taught on Saturday, September 24th from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm for a cost of $20. Just bring in the t-shirt of your choice and we'll take care of all the other materials.

We're signing up students now, but don't wait as space is limited and classes fill up fast! Just call the store at 407-831-6488 to reserve your seat.

See Ya Real Soon!

Lovely New Free Spirit Sateen and Canvas Cottons in the Quilting Room

Look what showed up in the quilting room today! The reason we do what we do and the reason we love our jobs is we get to see all of the new fabrics when they are unloaded from the truck and before they move to the floor. We don't know about you, but these fabrics inspire us to sit down at our machine and let the needle fly!

This week we got some gorgeous home fashion fabrics from Free Spirit. These 100% cotton modern print canvasses and sateens come from the newly released Garden District Collection by Heather Bailey. These are part of her debut collection of home decor fabrics, and we're very excited to showcase them in our store!

These stunning fabrics in lucious colors are rich in texture and are sure to inspire you to create artful designs for your home, memorable fashion accessories such as purses or totes, or even stylish accents for your modern nursery.

Check back and we'll pass along some enticing projects we know will be perfect for this collection.

The Ms. Pac-Man Lounge

Our Venerable Ms. Pac-Man Machine

For years, the Ms. Pac-Man machine at the front of the store has served as a refuge for drug-along children (and some husbands) of quilters and seamstresses as they besiege the store to exercise their creativity with fabrics.

Although it's never been given a formal name, the small "waiting area" offers magazines as well as the electric allure of a bow-topped mega mouth who gobbles up electronic dots at a rate that would make some champion hot dog eaters blush.

The machine, at first, offered Dads and Moms a nostalgic window from which to perch and share memories with their offspring of pizza parlors with similar table-top video games that they frequented as children . But the machine has been there so long, and entertained so many children, that we're finding younger adults with small children getting nostalgic about it simply because they played it at our store while their moms shopped for fabric.

The Ms. Pac-Man machine not only has become a staple of our store, it's become an institution in the Orlando area. We're proud that it's sparked so many warm memories of childhood and has crossed generations with its simple appeal.

And it's not going anywhere anytime soon, so rest assured that it will remain a touchstone of childhood for children who only now first experience the simple pleasure of mazes and ghosts. Although she doesn't run as smoothly as she used to, she still gets the job done by keeping the kids busy so Mom and Dad can shop. Or, for that matter, it can keep Dad and the kids busy while Mom shops.

So the next time you visit the store, be sure to check out the Ms. Pac-Man lounge at the front of the store (there, I just gave it a name), and maybe take a stroll down memory lane and take the old girl for a whirl.

Not Your Grandmother's Yo Yo's!

Who doesn't remember those vintage yo yo quilts spread across their grandmother's bed, displaying not only her lovingly placed hand stitching, but also the various colors and textures from her scrap fabric stash?  These little circles of hand gathered fabric are a staple among vintage quilts, folk art and primitive crafts. However, some modern sewers often view these embellishments as a bit far too passe' to be incorporated among their sylish and current fashion creations. (Remember Angela from Season 3 of Project Runway and the flack she caught for embellishing all of her fashions with fabric yo yo's?)

Well, as is often the case with fashion and trends, what was old is now new again, and those who once closed their mind to the possibility of using fabric yo yo's on any of their designs are having to give these whimsical rounds of material a second look!
Modern fabrics and a fresh approach to yo yo's place the sky as the limit to how you can incorporate a touch of whimsy to your quilts, clothing, handbags and crafts while also using up your ever growing fabric and scrap stash. Plus, they're perfect for employing those fat quarters of fabric you have yet to find just the right project for.

Mixing not only colors and fabrics but also varying the size and scale of your yo yo's is a great way to create texture and add interest to your crafty creations, and no where is this more important than in quilting.

By choosing to simply stitch the center of your fabric yo yo down, allows you to add a bit of whimsy to your finished piece, and can make these little pieces appear like sweet posies among your field of fabric. Try adding a variety of buttons and beads to the centers of your yo yo's to add interest and fun to your finished piece!

Artist and designer Amy Butler, has also embraced the resurgence of fabric yo yo's as part of the modern sewing trends, and she has created a stunning and eye catching quilt featuring yo yo's in various sizes stitched upon a floral stipped base and edged in a fun and whimsical fabric ruffle. You can download the free pattern here!

When crafted out of pieces from Amy's amazing fabric collection, this quilt is a feast for the eyes and imagination! Stop by the store to see this gorgeous model on display in our quilting room!

Ready to get started crafting your own yo yo projects? Try the "Quick" Yo Yo Maker by Clover (available in the store and via mail order from Sewing Studio) This great little tool truly makes yo yo crafting swift and easy! It's also available in a variety of sizes and in floral patterns for a fun twist on the traditional yo yo circular design.

We've Redesigned Our Site!

Welcome to the new sewing.net! Thanks for being patient during the redesign, we're still working out a few bugs and kinks, but we'll be 100% up and running very soon. Can't wait to share lots of pictures and projects created by our expert staff and crafty customers in the days to come!

Don't forget to follow us on twitter and facebook for the most up-to-date developments in all things Sewing Studio!