by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

A lady at my Stitching Bee asked me if I could teach her to smock, so I thought I'd better see if I could actually remember how to do it! I gathered up a piece of gingham to show her on and couldn't stop, so I had to make it into a baby dress.

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by ctirish 13 Apr 2015

Beautiful work ! I like this type of smocking on the gingham fabric. You're inspiring me to try smocking on my machine.
Is there an easy way to pleat the fabric without buying an expensive pleater?
Thank you for sharing, jane

1 comment
spendlove by spendlove 13 Apr 2015

Needle and thread! Doesn't take very long at all.

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by Shisha 11 Apr 2015

Wow! Great job Sue! Would u consider doing a tutorial on smocking? I also would love to learn how to do it and I am sure others would too! It would also be great to be taught by the best! :)

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by cfidl 10 Apr 2015

Wow!Is that done by hand? It is wonderful!

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by justsew 09 Apr 2015

arrr. Just stunning Sue . and it is a nice thing to do on holiday and finish off when you get home.
Hugs Pam

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by bertajhill 09 Apr 2015

beautiful! I would love to learn to smock. My mother-in-law used to smock different things for the holidays. Unfortunately she died before she could teach me.

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by lbrow 28 Mar 2015

A mighty fine job Sue/Lillian

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by sandralochran 27 Mar 2015

love it

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by phi4 27 Mar 2015

sue,
You are one amazing lady with many talents! . Looks like, there is nothing else you can't do!. phyllis.

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by berny 27 Mar 2015

I used a McCall pattern 9293, it was and is still my friends phone no

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by sonjapotgieter 27 Mar 2015

Wow....What Awesome dress Sue...Stunning work done...Well done!!!

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by ethan 27 Mar 2015

This dress turned out very well, I think I have seen some machine embroidery patterns for smocking somewhere. G

1 comment
spendlove by spendlove 27 Mar 2015

Cheating! They may look like smocking, but they can't have the elasticity.

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by Dupsilly 27 Mar 2015

beautiful my mom did this and we used to gather the fabric for her she use a little gathering machine, so cool well done! Magda

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by lidiad 27 Mar 2015

That's a lovely dress, Sue! It reminds me of a lovely dress that my mother made for me when I was six or seven and had hand-embroidered the top part of the bodice. I was fond of that dress. Thank you for sharing these two pictures.
Hugs, Lidia

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by PIGNADA 26 Mar 2015

Very well done, I love vintage design on Vichy fabrics with smocks or Swiss embroidery. Thank you very much for sharing.
Amitiés de France;

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by katydid 26 Mar 2015

I think I had smocked dresses when I was small. They were probably hand me downs. I don't remember my Mother smocking. There are some high end children's clothes that still offer these , buy you pay dearly for them. Kay

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spendlove by spendlove 27 Mar 2015

Indeed, I've had a look on-line!

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by cj2sew 26 Mar 2015

You're amazing I don't think there is anything you can't do. You blow me away with your talent. I wish we were related then maybe some it would rub off on me.

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spendlove by spendlove 27 Mar 2015

Just give everything a try - you never know what you can do.

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by highlandermom 26 Mar 2015

Very lovely.

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by gillemmerson 26 Mar 2015

This is lovely Sue as many others have said it brings back memories. My Mother in law did some for my daughters and I did have a go myself but didn't keep it up unfortunately. Not sure I could pick it up again now.

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spendlove by spendlove 27 Mar 2015

Course you could!

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by beeash 26 Mar 2015

Lovely.Me too into smoking for my grands.This beautiful dress reminded me to complete mine...lol.

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by rosakent 26 Mar 2015

Gorgeous! Jo

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by berny 26 Mar 2015

It is lovely,I did what was called American smocking you would buy the transfer, iron the dots on and freehand the stitches, i did it on voile for my only daughter she is 49 now, I had 5 sons...

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spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

I had some smocking transfers but they have evaporated over time. Did you use them to gather the fabric or to smock from dot to dot?
Pity about all those boys.

berny by berny 27 Mar 2015

I would smock from dot to dot, easy once in the rhythm,
I think I was very lucky to have 6 healthy children made the boys trousers

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by robinbird 26 Mar 2015

This dress you've made is adorable& the gingham with the smocking adds a nice touch too. Thanks for sharing your work. :~D

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by mops Moderator 26 Mar 2015

Really lovely! I love to do it on gingham or stripes as you don't have to set dots all over the area. My kids found it old fashioned, so although they wore it themselves when young they did not want it for my grands. But seeing yours I'd like to start a dress myself.

I have my mum's smocking sampler which she made when she was 11 or 12 yrs old. A bit dirty and moths had a go at one of the edges, but a keeper nonetheless.

1 comment
spendlove by spendlove edited 26 Mar 2015

I've only done this to see if I still could, but I really enjoyed it! I'd love to see your sampler. Perhaps I'll make one. Have you ever tried smocking on baby cord? I thought that would be easy to gather.

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by basketkase 26 Mar 2015

So darling, Sue and you have so much creative talent!

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by karenintw 26 Mar 2015

You are a woman of many talents! Thanks for sharing.

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by bowlds 26 Mar 2015

That is perfection! Beautiful work.

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by noah 26 Mar 2015

So did the sewing machine do it or you by hand??
Love the LQQK!!! Hugs

2 comments
spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

Smocking by hand, dress by machine.

noah by noah 26 Mar 2015

oh my my hat goes off to you this took some time:):)great job

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by airyfairy 26 Mar 2015

This takes me back. My mother used to do hand smocking on some of my dresses. You have done a wonderful job Sue.

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by avalon 26 Mar 2015

WOW! that is amazing. Love it

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by dragonflyer 26 Mar 2015

Sweet! I had though several times about getting a pleater...did you gather this by machine, hand, or do you have a pleater? Nice job!

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spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

Gathered by hand - really easy with gingham.

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by momac 26 Mar 2015

Really lovely, not many people want smocking these days.

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by sjbrower 26 Mar 2015

This is beautiful! I remember that my mom made me a smocked dress when I was young from pink checked gingham... this brings back memories.

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spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

Hope they are good ones!

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by decojo 26 Mar 2015

Beautiful dress! Sue, your smocking is amazing!

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by dordonc 26 Mar 2015

beautiful but looks so complicated .............

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spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

No - really simple.

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by kathymourie 26 Mar 2015

Beautiful !!! I have wanted to do this for a long, even took a Martha Pullen class to learn. Got home and never picked it up again. I think I will pull it out again and try.
You are so talented !!!!
Kathy
VA

1 comment
spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

Give it a go!

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by designgirl 26 Mar 2015

Gorgeous is all I can say. That takes a real talent to do that. My aunt use to do it years ago.

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by pldc 26 Mar 2015

Oh Sue this is so sweet, I love it! However did you make this?

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spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

You gather the fabric, very precisely, then the smocking is doen by stitching the pleats together in a regular pattern. When you take the gathers out you are left with an elastic panel.

pldc by pldc 26 Mar 2015

this is so dainty Sue, I would love to learn to make one for our new great grandbaby girl...come on over & teach me too ok you can stay @ my house lol :~) I would love it!

spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

Would love to!

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by lilylady 26 Mar 2015

very pretty, I have always been going to do this, just never did. I love the look of smocking.

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by graceandham 26 Mar 2015

This seems to be your approach to everything! Very cute dress. Any mom would love to dress her child this way.

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by jenne 26 Mar 2015

sweet!

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by flitter 26 Mar 2015

Cute dress, great job Sue!

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by Sewmum1 26 Mar 2015

It's lovely. Good idea making it with gingham. Never thought of that. So much easier for a beginner. Might just give it a go

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by tfk 26 Mar 2015

That is amazing Sue...thanks for sharing :)
I would love to give it a try but looks a bit complicated!
Lets see if I can gather courage and get some done :) ......yours is so neat and looks pretty!

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spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

Not at all complicated - just take it one step at a time.

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by baydreamer 26 Mar 2015

Oh I just love smocking, haven't done it in years. Lovely

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by imglen 26 Mar 2015

That is lovely Sue. I would love to try it myself. It would be a good project for the J-Club sometime.

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by RockyB 26 Mar 2015

Very nice! I love smocked baby clothes, wish I could get back in to it!

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spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

It is 30 years since I last did any!

RockyB by RockyB 26 Mar 2015

I'm pretty close with you!

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by greysewist Moderator 26 Mar 2015

That looks so neat, and I love the colours too. That'll look very sweet on a little someone!

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spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

Trouble is, I don't have a little someone to hand!

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by pennifold 26 Mar 2015

This is gorgeous Sue, I love smocked dresses. I used to wear them and Trev's mum made them for our Dana and Amy when they were little girls. Love Chris

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by deegee 26 Mar 2015

Lovely work. So even - impressive.

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by rmj8939 26 Mar 2015

Just gorgeous Sue.

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by christracey 26 Mar 2015

It looks great Sue well done. I haven't done it in years.

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by asterixsew Moderator 26 Mar 2015

This takes me back many years. Smocked dresses were worn in my childhood and I can see my mother quietly smocking on fabric that became dresses for me. Love your colours

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by aussiequilter 26 Mar 2015

Sue its just adorable , if our baby is a girl I will have to give this a try

1 comment
spendlove by spendlove 26 Mar 2015

Not difficult, but it bit time consuming!

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