What is Smocking?

by Beth-Katherine Kaiman, copyright 2009 all rights reserved

Simply speaking smocking is embroidery upon pleated fabric, which has been either pre-pleated (English Smocking) or formed at the same time as the smocking stitches (a technique commonly found in vintage commercial clothing patterns referred to as North American Smocking). The hand embroidery technique of English Smocking is worked upon pre-pleated fabric with the pleating threads still in place is more a more versatile technique as you can shape your pleated piece to fit whatever form you want (straight, round, pipe or formed as in full bodice or pillows). There are two styles within English Smocking, geometric (all the basic stitches) or pattern smocking (stacked wave diamonds) and picture smocking which is also known as stacked cables.

While there are several techniques lurking under the umbrella term of smocking, the most prevalent styles today are English Smocking and it’s variants, as well as the stitch/tucking styles of Lattice, Gingham and Counterchange Smocking (which uses striped fabric and a grid of stitches to stitch together in patterns).

Then there is Machine Smocking. A relative newcomer to the game but methods have been around for about the same time as the pleater I would say, perhaps even back to the sewing machines of the 1920’s. Today’s embroidery sewing machines come with built-in smocking stitches which can emulate hand smocking but does leave a bit to be desired, but then I am a hand embroiderer. Depending upon how sophisticated your embroidery machine is you can produce more smocked dresses than if you did it by hand. The sewing machine companies who produce these machines have sufficient documentation, particularly Viking which introduced America to Machine Smocking. There are also a few companies out there who sell machine smocking designs that have been programmed for your machine.

Historically speaking the current wave of the style of English Smocking began with Delineator Magazine with the 1890’s Liberty Dress (a bishop dress with classic 1890’s neckline), to iron-on patterns in the 1920’s-1970’s by commercial pattern companies and over the past 30 years has blossomed through the work of independent designers into the delightfully hand smocked children’s clothing we see today.

To do hand smocking is not hard, one just reviews the techniques of embroidery and methods of pleating to see if it’s a worthwhile style of embroidery for you to attempt. We all know the joy of adding color to an outfit or embroidering a special motif onto a garment but smocking a 6″ x 12″ insert and wearing it is another thing altogether. It’s a textural thing, to work the stitches and then run your fingers over the pleated and embroidered fabric is a common delight amongst veteran smockers. I do have to warn you though, smocking is addictive.

On designs.

The basic stitches of smocking are the geometric patterns that are the back drop for today’s many picture smocking designs but actually hold a strong place in smocking’s history as the style is older than picture smocking. You fashion buffs, I am sure you will recognize commercial patterns from the 1950’s and 1960’s with full bodice smocked dresses or little adorable little girls’ basic dresses with a smocked panel in front.

Also popular then were smocked hats and pillows made from gingham fabric, but this technique is known as Smocking on Gingham which is where the art form Counterchange evolved from. Lattice Smocking (based on a 2″ square grid), looks like folded pleats into one another, became popular in the 1960’s in the form of pillows (squares, rectangles, bolsters, rounds and hearts). This style was extended when ladies started playing with different variations of stitching the basic square creating several different styles of lattice smocking. Some clothing designers have extended smocking onto fashion clothing for different puckering looks (Brooke Shields is wearing a variation of a smocked blouse in a recent TV commercial).

The technique known as picture smocking and features motifs usually in sets of threes instead of a completed picture. Creating a solid picture is not easy to do with smocking, although not impossible. Unlike crewel embroidery, cross stitch or applique; solid picture images are not easy to make as it is tedious to make all those stitches to cover the pleats. Solid pictures would be more easily created by machine smocking (a form of machine embroidery) but I’m not too fluent in that technique as I fell in love with hand smocking years ago. Besides you don’t really want to cover up the pleats, they are part of the charm.

Designing images for smocking has some rules to follow as well. Too many stitches stacked upwards on pleats make them more rigid such as the little used satin stitch or the more widely used stacked cables. If this is not a problem or a desired look then go ahead and smock to your heart’s content but mostly picture smocking refers to smocking motifs in pairs or trios or one central character that covers a wider area with blank areas that need to be back-smocked to keep the pleats from flying out (remember each pleat must be locked to another otherwise you loose your pleats). As I said which design to use depends upon what you want your finished product will look like.

Locking each pleat to one another is important but depending upon the stitches used there are areas that can pouch out creating puffing which may or may not be the effect you are looking for..  Puffing out of non smocked areas creates a whole other texture of dimensionality to your smocked piece.   The stitches I’m talking about are stacked diamonds with the center of the diamond allowed to be free of stitches, hence a puffed out area.  ‘Puffing strips’ is an heirloom sewing term referring to shirring edges on both sides of a strip of fabric that is inserted into an area on a garment.  You can duplicate this look with smocking a pattern of stitches within 2 rows and then skipping several rows without smocking or back smocking and smocking the next few rows, repeating the pattern a couple of times down a bodice creating sections of puffing on whatever you are creating (garment, purse, pillow etc).

For more information on smocking please visit my website and newsletter section. You are most welcome to write to me and ask as many questions as you have to help you in your journey. The fairies have been in business since 1986 and have been online since 1996.  It is our mission to keep up with what’s new in patterns, materials and ideas to keep you informed.

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