Here is a project I did way back in April but was essential to the evolution of what I'm currently working on.
Smocking is a lovely hand sewn touch to garments, mostly known for vintage baby christening gowns, or younger children's dresses. But it can be a lovely touch to any garment, and the differing ways to do it lend the variety needed to fit any occasion!
If you are just beginning, and want to try something out, I would suggest trying a honeycomb smocking on a fabric that is preprinted with squares. This way, you already have a natural grid and no measurements are needed to mark where you will stitch. Also, the honeycomb smocking is pretty much the basic one, however the other stitches are neither more or less difficult, but you may as well begin with the beginning!
Materials to use would be any cottons or lighter weight fabrics. If you have heavy fabric it may be too bulky in the end. Stay away from sheer fabrics as well, or your stitches will show when you move from one to the other.
Threads to use will depend on the project, but usually you will want an embroidery thread as it is stronger and also some of your stitches WILL show so you want a nice complementary color that works with your design and your fabric.
If you are making a garment you will need to remember that smocking takes away width and or length depending on which smocking stitch you use. You will need to figure out how much will be taken away and then cut the pattern longer/wider accordingly. Honeycomb smocking does not take length out, only width, so you can easily figure out how much extra you need by adding in the width of your square, times the number of squares you will sew.
It's easier if you think of it as a grid. More help on this with the pictures later.
Of course, me being me, I didn't start with just a piece of fabric, or even an unmade garment. I found this shirt and fell in love with the pattern and vibrant colors! Unfortunately, the only size available was a 2XL. Not quite my size. I decided that since I needed to take in some width, I would simply put a few rows of smocking in and leave the garment intact rather than trying to take in the seams, or put darts in a t-shirt. This would have the added benefit of a cute ruffled flare at the bottom, making it all the more dressy.
Since this is a floral pattern, I had no ready made grid, so first I figured out how big to make my squares, then I marked the grid on the back of the shirt. This DOES affect which side shows, so if you want the honeycomb showing on the front, you will need to mark the front of your fabric.
Once the grid is marked, you simply have to sew alternating dots one to the other. If you have four dots in your row, the first two and the last two will be joined, and the middle two will be left with a space between. If you're confused, you can draw a mockup on paper and point an arrow from one dot to the other to keep track. Or if you're sewing a practice, mark the fabric with a line between the two dots you wish to join. Remember to alternate. Then, on your second row, you will alternate and join the second and third, but NOT the first or last. It is harder to explain that it is to do. When you sew the dots together, you will want to take a small amount of fabric with your needle on each dot. I took about three mm on mine, but that will vary with the weave that you're working with.
You can do whatever works best with your fabric.
Here is the first stitch being pulled together. You can see the fabric pucker, which makes the smock. Your first dot will end up on top of your second dot. Then, you make a second stitch through the dots, and tie it off with a knot to hold the stitch.
Going for the second stitch, I went straight down and picked up that dot and joined it with the one to the left. Remember alternate! :) (Now, if you're honeycombing the front, you would run the thread through the back of the fabric to start the second stitch. I was working with the BACK which is why I left the thread on this side to move from stitch to stitch. Keep that in mind as you see the remaining pictures. Also since this was going to have a lining, I used quilting thread instead of embroidery thread. If your garment will be against skin, especially for children's sensitive skin you definitely want embroidery thread as it is softer.)
Here is the start of the third stitch, going BACK to alternate the stitches.
Here are a few stitches done and you can see the pattern emerging.
Two rows done and starting the third, there is a definite honeycomb emerging.
And, the finished pattern on the INSIDE (remember I made my honeycomb on the WRONG side of the fabric)
And the smocking on the RIGHT side of the fabric. It has little rectangles instead of the honeycomb, which blend into the pattern a bit better. Since this shirt was too WIDE, but not to long, the honeycomb smocking was perfect as it takes width away, but does nothing to the length.
I did this on both the front and the back. I never did get a picture of me in the finished product, so maybe in the future I'll add that, but that is all for now!
Stay tuned for more exciting smocked garments!
