Smocking Pleater

Day 154: Yet another needleworker's tool surfaces from the Crow's closet! My Read smocking pleater was manufactured in South Africa about thirty years ago and has been an invaluable time-saver over the years. It eliminates the need for the transfer of dots and tedious hand-gathering. It's easier to use if you have an assistant to start the feed of fabric into the teeth while a second person rotates the wheels, but by moistening the leading edge of the cloth slightly so it sticks temporarily, the process can be managed by one person.

Here, I'm only gathering a narrow width of muslin for demonstration purposes. Three toothed rollers force the cloth onto specially designed needles, gathering it into very uniform pleats. If you were gathering a shirt-length of material, the excess would hang from the device beyond the ends of the rollers. Pieces of a garment are generally gathered separately and construction is done before smocking begins.

I've made dozens of baby garments, shirts and pillow tops. This wide-yoked midriff top has raglan sleeves, and is the only example of pleated smocking I still own. Might have to do something about that!