{"id":20324,"date":"2023-08-30T10:35:37","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T10:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/?p=20324"},"modified":"2023-08-30T10:35:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T10:35:37","slug":"why-block-miniature-knitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/?p=20324","title":{"rendered":"Why block miniature knitting?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"blocking
\u00a9 F H Powell 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blocking (or Dressing) a miniature garment does not take long but can greatly improve the look of a finished garment, especially if stitches are uneven. With the aid of a few dressmaking pins and a piece of polystyrene\/styrofoam or other soft plastic in which you can stick pins. This is best done BEFORE the garment is sewn up in miniature work. Small folds can also be added to skirts and dresses to make them hang more naturally on a doll or coat hanger.<\/p>\n

1. If you used cotton or wool for knitting, firstly wet a few small strands of the yarn you used and test that the colour does not run. This is especially important in multicolour knitting, where one colour could run into another.
\n2. Once you have tested and found the yarn is colourfast, dampen the knitted item in cold<\/strong> water.
\n3. Gently wring out excess moisture, taking care not to crease the item too much.
\n4. Spread the item out on the polystyrene, usually with the wrong side upwards, however if you wish to add folds for drapes make sure the RIGHT <\/strong>side is uppermost.
\n5. If adding drape to a skirt it is best to do this before pinning the side seams of the skirt, gently pinch the fabric together to form small folds (see photo above) and hold in place at the hem with pins to either side of fold. This will bring the side seams in, making the skirt narrower, especially useful for full skirts, as shown on the right below:
\n

\"miniature
\u00a9 F H Powell 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThis will also work on things such as waterfall cardigans:
\n
\"Miniature
\u00a9 F H Powell 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n6. Gently pull the item into shape (do not overstretch or the seams will become distorted) and carefully pin around the edges of the garment. If you have straight seams, you may find it easier to pin with the help of a plastic ruler.
\n7. Take care not to stretch any areas of rib, as you gently pull the garment into shape.
\n8. Leave in a warm place to dry completely, but do not leave the pins in longer than 36 hours or rust patches may develop.
\n9. Once the item is completely dry the pieces can be sewn together. The garment should keep its shape until washed.<\/p>\n

You may also like to refer to our previous post covering blocking lace<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blocking (or Dressing) a miniature garment does not take long but can greatly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[91,108],"class_list":["post-20324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knitting-and-crochet-tips","tag-hints-and-tips","tag-miniature-knitting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/dress-pinned-out-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C2560","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Q29Z-5hO","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20324"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20333,"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20324\/revisions\/20333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk\/newsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}