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From: ittycritters
Date: 06-04-2005, 09:25 PM (1 of 15)
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Hello, I am wanting to try out smoking, and I do have a machine that does it, however, I have NO CLUE how to get it started... I haven't tried yet, but does anyone have any tips and important info that i need to follow??? Thanks! ~Krys Just when I thought it was over....
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User: ittycritters
Member since: 05-03-2005 Total posts: 50 
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From: ittycritters
Date: 06-04-2005, 09:28 PM (2 of 15)
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I meant smocking... grrrr... this damn baby induced sleep deprivation!!! LOL Just when I thought it was over....
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User: ittycritters
Member since: 05-03-2005 Total posts: 50
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From: paroper
Date: 06-04-2005, 11:25 PM (3 of 15)
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I was never tempted to smoke with my kids or even smock after my kids...but let me tell you that more than one I thought about taking up drinking after having kids....and it doesn't get better as they get older.... When the twins were born, they refused to sleep through the night until they were 9 months. The smallest couldn't take a bottle well so it took an hour to feed her..she was supposed to be on a 3 hr schedule, but try as we might, she insisted on taking her bottle every four hours, and it took her a full hour to take it. My ds was HUNGERY all the time. He demanded to be fed every 3 hours and took his bottle down instantly. We would be up all night. We'd get up at 4:30 to dress, bathe and feed them and then we'd dress and leave the house with them and their older sister at 6:30 to drop them off at sitters and day care. When got home at 6:30 at night and we'd fix dinner, bathe the older sister, wash dishes, do a load of clothes between feedings and go to bed at 8:30 so we could be up all night. When we dressed in the morning we would often dress in the dark. more than once I went to work with my dress on wrong side out or backwards. Once I spent the entire day in two different shoes which were slghtly different heights, so I limped all day...I looked like a refugee from a sorority initiation. Having kids and working is not for the faint of heart! You're sleep deprived because you are caring for them now, some day you'll be sleep deprived waiting for them to come home at night. pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: Mother in Law
Date: 06-05-2005, 12:13 AM (4 of 15)
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Pam I found a solution to that problem but not quick enough. I bottle fed the first two and found out how wonderful not having to get out the bed and step on ice cold floors to retrieve a baby bottle, warm the succor and then have them doze inbetween sucks. The last one I breast fed and he was wonderful. Most nights I slept almost all night although he was next to me all night hanging on. I felt like the old mama dog but it was better than the other way. Hang in there, the staying up all night waiting on them to come in is a whole lot better I think than the baby thing. Of course I didn't work but after the first one I still had to get up for the others and start my day. |
User: Mother in Law
Member since: Total posts: |
From: plrlegal
Date: 06-05-2005, 12:21 AM (5 of 15)
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I can't address the problem of being sleep deprived due to having an infant to take care of at night but I can tell you that there is a forum here that is dedicated to "smocking". It is called "Heirloom Sewing". You can probably get some good information on smocking in that forum. Patsy Patsy
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User: plrlegal
Member since: 05-19-2001 Total posts: 318 |
From: ittycritters
Date: 06-05-2005, 12:31 AM (6 of 15)
ha... yeah i hear that "old mama dog" thing... actually, i have begun collecting cows... 
Just when I thought it was over....
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User: ittycritters
Member since: 05-03-2005 Total posts: 50
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From: Mother in Law
Date: 06-05-2005, 12:48 AM (7 of 15)
| Oh about the smocking. If you go to the American sewing guild website you can probably find a chapter close to where you are and ask them if there is any smocking classes anywhere. Most of the ladies there are knowledgeable about where and when they have things in your area dealing with sewing. Once I joined the Sewing Guild it opened up doors I didn't know anything about right here in my town. I just took a class on smocking by hand not machine and doing by hand you need a pleater to pleat your fabric unless you have fabric that has ribs then you can use the ribs for the pleats. They also have a technique you can do that uses check fabric and the check fabric takes the place of the pleats also. It's not hard at all. |
User: Mother in Law
Member since: Total posts: |
From: emwes3651
Date: 06-05-2005, 04:53 PM (8 of 15)
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You could try this link :http://www.geocities.com/craftantics.geo/smkstch.html It has some useful info on stitches Eileen |
User: emwes3651
Member since: 06-05-2005 Total posts: 1 |
From: Sewhappie
Date: 06-05-2005, 07:11 PM (9 of 15)
I had to see if I was reading the Thread right!!! You wanted to start "Smoking", then you started talking about your MACHINE doing IT!!!  I was thinking to myself that I wanted the same machine that she has, if she can sew so fast that she has it "SMOKING", I want one too!!!!!Then I saw that it was a "type-o". I was so sad then  I thought that someone had FINALLY found the perfect sewing machine.  Just a FYI: I found this great website called "ieSpell" ( www.iespell.com) that I use to double check for my mess-ups before I submit it. |
User: Sewhappie
Member since: 10-27-2001 Total posts: 1427 |
From: blackie
Date: 06-05-2005, 11:39 PM (10 of 15)
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The last one I breast fed and he was wonderful. Most nights I slept almost all night although he was next to me all night hanging on. I felt like the old mama dog but it was better than the other way. Yay, breastfeeding! It makes life so much easier and is healthier for the kids & mama, too. I nursed both mine at the same time for a year (Sophie from 1 to 3, and Nels was born when she was 2) and am still nursing my 14 mo. old. And yeah, sometimes I feel like a mama mammal - in fact my mother calls me the "milk cow" (thanks, Mom!). I laughed when I saw "smoking" too. see the mundane life of a housewife.
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User: blackie
Member since: 03-31-2004 Total posts: 594 |
From: Mother in Law
Date: 06-06-2005, 12:02 AM (11 of 15)
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ROFL My baby son is now 28 and cringes when he hears me say I breastfed him. I guess it's the thought of the visually pictureing this to him is what gets to him. But as you said he was was healthy baby. The other two had pneumonia and ear infections and he was always healthy. It even took him 3 times exposed to chicken pox to actually come down with it but even when he did get it he had a mild case. Smocking is very fun to do. After I took the class I now notice things that are smocked on little girls dresses when I see babies who have smocking on their dress. If you want a good book that is self explanitory with good pics get The Joy of Smocking by Martha Pullen. It's a very good book and teaches you step by step of how to. |
User: Mother in Law
Member since: Total posts: |
From: ittycritters
Date: 06-06-2005, 01:53 AM (12 of 15)
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~sigh~ I'm not going to live that down am i??? LOL! Do you HAVE to use a "pleater" (is that what they are called?) or can you do the pleats by hand and have a good result? I looked at pleaters and I noticed how they are a little pricey... so are they mandatory to do a decent smoCking job? One site said that you can use a large Gingham print to do your pleats... Maybe i'm not too bright but i'm not understanding how it is done... *crosses eyes and sticks tounge out* DUH!! thanks, ~Krys Just when I thought it was over....
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User: ittycritters
Member since: 05-03-2005 Total posts: 50
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From: Mother in Law
Date: 06-06-2005, 02:14 AM (13 of 15)
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The way they use to smock before the pleaters was with these little dots that was ironed on the fabric and then used the dots to pleat the fabric so the check fabric could take the place of the dots. In order to smock you have to sew from one pleat to the next and so with the checks and dots method you sew from dot to dot or check to check. At least that's the way I understood it to be I hope I'm telling you right. There is a lady here that will pleat rows of pleats for a dollar a row. Usually it takes about 10 rows to do the front of a little girls dress. They won't let you live this one down................but all you have to do is look back on the board and we have all made bloopers in here and some are doozies. LOL 
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User: Mother in Law
Member since: Total posts: |
From: woodywoodpecker
Date: 06-06-2005, 04:38 PM (14 of 15)
| I must admit when I first read your heading I had to laugh, I thought "oh yeah ,this lady is going to get all kinds of replies". Thank you for your typo!! |
User: woodywoodpecker
Member since: 11-07-2003 Total posts: 242 |
From: AndreaSews
Date: 06-06-2005, 06:28 PM (15 of 15)
I've been enjoying this thread too  I'd been thinking about giving smoCking a whirl, myself, but I seem to have a long list of things ahead of it. Here's a technique I found online that I think would be sooo beautiful, and may be good for a beginner. You have to scroll down to see the finished effect. honeycomb stitch (http://www.everythingsewing.net/honeycombstitch.htm) Andrea
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User: AndreaSews
Member since: 02-18-2005 Total posts: 1007 
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