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 Step By Step: Construction Workbook for Yoke and Bishop Dresses

This 145-page reference manual was originally written in outline form as a teaching aid for my classroom. The Step By Step Workbook continues to be a great classroom aid but is also a must for every smocker’s library. Written with humor and practical application, this text dedicated to sewing techniques will enhance every library.
 

The building block chapter walks the novice, as well as the experienced, through cutting the bias, to sewing four different kinds of plackets, to stitching the French seam to typing the bow, and much more. Work a sample of each instruction and pin it into your book. Leave an inch of the sample completely unfinished, an inch partially finished and an inch completely finished. That way it is easy to see at a glance exactly what you did. Work one hand made buttonhole; then you can say you know how but you never have to do one again, or you may find you love to do them and never want to do anything else.
 
Hints to house your book:
I have removed my copy from the spiral binding and then inserted into a D-ring notebook. I took it to my local copy shop to have it three holed punched. Later, I decided the pages were getting too much wear and tear, so I located a very light-weight plastic page insert and slipped each page down into that which I then put back in the notebook. The plastic also means that I do not have to worry so much about accidentally losing a finished sample. I also found tab plastic page savers that allowed me to separate the chapters. Do try to find very lightweight plastic as this will add considerable weight to the notebook.


 
Step by Step contains nine chapters and five appendixes.
  • Chapter One covers fitting the child’s body, how to measure a wiggling child, and several useful charts.
     
  • Chapter Two covers fabrics in detail.

  • Chapter Three covers sewing machine maintenance and achieving perfect tension.

  • Chapter Four covers needles – sewing machines as well as hand needles.

  • Chapter Five covers threads for the sewing machine, for hand sewing and for smocking.

  • Chapter Six covers pressing techniques.

  • Chapter Seven is all about the yoke dress including lesson plans from start to finish.

  • Chapter Eight is all about the bishop dress with lesson plans.

  • Chapter Nine contains the building blocks of learning – a step by step how-to. I like to compare it to a cookbook for a person who may not even understand what boiling water looks like.

 

For a detailed look at the Table of Contents, please click here.