Everything I Can Teach You About Constructing a Smocked Yoke Dress in 4 Hours 

Study with Gail, find confidence in your smocking construction, and finish sewing more garments!

Price $84

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Do you love to smock but dread the construction process to put it all together?

 

After constructing 100+ smocked yoke dresses, I've distilled all my learnings down to this 4-session online course.

This course covers it all:

  • Precise construction information for blocking and shaping your smocked dress front
  • Preparation and application of piping
  • Block method Peter Pan collars
  • When and where to use interfacing
  • Sturdy French seams
  • Sleeve preparation and insertion
  • Binding the armscye edges
  • An all machine continuous back skirt placket
  • Back belt or sash options
  • Favorite hem finishes
  • Discussion of full smocked bodice, high yoke, and drop yoke styles
  • An inside look at many finished and partially constructed dress options
  • Learn how to make your project as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside

Note:  This is NOT a learn to smock class.  The presentation will focus completely on the construction techniques necessary to turn your smocking into a fine finished dress.

Learn Everything You Need To Know To Turn Your Smocking Into Breathtaking Finished Dresses

I'm ready to take my smocking to the next level!

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Meet Your Instructor: Gail Doane

In the words of Classic Sewing Magazine: "Gail Doane is an internationally recognized expert in sewing technique and design, as well as a featured designer in Classic Sewing magazine. It’s the tiny details of sewing that are her recognizable signature style."

In her own words: Gail is "an heirloom sewing addict who is detail-oriented, but prepared to break the rules."

Gail brings to the classroom over 40 years of experience, having dressed seven children, and now an ever-expanding number of grandchildren, in beautiful heirloom clothing. Her work first appeared in Australian Smocking & Embroidery in 2000 and Inspirations in 2008.

Gail's Sewing Has Been Featured In Top-Tier Publications Across the Globe

Sewing class reinvented for the online age

#TheSewMustGoOn

The Highest-Quality Instruction

  • Watch Gail's masterfully experienced hands as they reveal every subtlety and nuance needed for perfect construction
  • Enjoy multiple camera angles including super-close up shots of Gail's sewing table and machine

The Most Convenient Experience

  • Leave the time, headache, and expense of travel behind and refine your skills from the comfort of your own sewing room
  • Retain access to this course for life, and reference back to it as often as you need so you can finish more projects
  • Stream Gail's sewing instruction onto the device of your preference making it easy to sew wherever you want

Sewing Class The Old Way

Travel to attend an in-person class held at a conference

 
What You Experience:
  • 20+ students crowded around a single sewing machine or table without a clear view
  • Stress between trying to record audio/video of the class or furiously taking notes so you can retain what your learn
  • Pack your sewing machine and lug it through airports and hotels to use it in class
  • Instructor barraged by Chatty Pattys asking personal sewing questions and using up precious class time
What you pay:
  • Flights $300
  • Hotel $200
  • Rental Car $150
  • Food $50
  • Registration $100
  • Total Cost $800

Sewing Class The New Way

Attend class from the convenience of your own sewing room

 
What You Experience:
  • High-quality, close-up camera shots from multiple angles with no obstruction
  • Convenient, recorded, videos you can review as many times as you need to get your sewing right
  • The familiarity of your own sewing room and the convenience of all of your at-home supplies
  • A constant flow of valuable information without interruptions or distractions 
What you pay:
  • Flights $0
  • Hotel $0
  • Rental Car $0
  • Food $0
  • Registration $84
  • Total Cost $84

Experience Sewing Class The New Way

Register Now

Previous Attendees are Raving About Their Experience in This Class...

“Worth every penny"

"Gail is Perfection Personified"

"I'll be signing up for the next [one]"

“This was having a front row seat!"

"Outstanding, so informative!"

"Money very well spent"

This Course is the Ultimate Guide to Smocking Construction

 

Detailed Course Outline: 

Lesson 1:

  • Discussion of available patterns/different seam allowances
  • What fabrics to interface
  • A word about sizing
  • How to tie off to size prior to smocking
  • Freezer paper blocking method for high yoke, dropped yoke, full bodice
  • Demonstration of technique for making single piping
  • Demonstration of technique for making double piping

Lesson 2:

  • Discussion of why yokes MUST be interfaced
  • Attaching piping to smocked skirt and then the yoke
  • Discussion of cutting out bodice back and skirt back AFTER the smocked skirt front is prepared
  • Exceptions to NOT using piping
  • Shaped yoke/full bodice shaped yoke
  • Bodice back
  • Bodice front lining/bottom edge finishes
  • Collar options
  • Demonstration of how to draft a Peter Pan collar
  • Demonstration of how to stitch a piped Peter Pan collar (block method)

Lesson 3:

  • Demonstration of attaching a Peter Pan Collar
  • Demonstration of how to iron a finished collar into place
  • Neckline piping and binding option
  • Back placket

Lesson 4:

  • Attaching the bodice back to the gathered skirt back
  • Preparation of a back sash
  • Preparation of a piped back belt
  • Side seams/French seams
  • Discussion of two sleeve types – fitted/gathered
  • Demonstration of easing a fitted sleeve
  • Demonstration of gather/ease thread placement
  • Demonstration of Seams Great
  • Hem finishes
  • Demonstration of 6” depth, 1” tuck hem (or 8” with two 1” tucks)
  • Demonstration of banded hem
  • Demonstration of 1 ½” wide mock Hong Kong finish/hand hemming stitch

We Surveyed Over 100 of Gail's Past Sewing Students

Here's how they rated their online sewing experience:
  • Average rating for skill improvement: 
    4.77 out of 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Average rating for online format:
    4.93 out of 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Average rating for overall experience:
    4.99 out of 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Willingness to recommend to a friend:
    4.96 out of 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Purchase today and get an additional BONUS training ($40 Value)

Gail responds to the 100+ questions submitted during the Skill-Building Seminar live event

Although it was impossible to reply to all 133 questions submitted during the live presentation of this training, Gail wanted to ensure no stone was left unturned on this topic. So she filmed an additional 90+ minute training video featuring detailed answers to all the important questions from the live event. Purchase today, on this page, and we'll include the bonus video at no additional cost. 

Register Now and Get Bonus Video

Important Questions and Answers About This Online Course

The Heirloom Sewing Horror Story...

A search and rescue mission for confidence

One of the relentless challenges of heirloom sewing is feeling confident in enough different skills to complete a beautiful garment. Without confidence in each specific skill, you second-guess yourself over and over, barely moving forward, until you wake up one day and you’re sitting in your sewing room, staring at a closet of half-finished outfits racking your brain to remember what the satisfaction of completing a project feels like.

That doesn't have to be you!

Join us in waging war against UFOs (unfinished outfits) and register today!

Register Now