Smocked Sundress in Gingham

So this is what happened to the smocking.

As a habit, I don't enjoy making an entire garment
out of a single print/patterned fabric. Even in
gingham. It's a bit..... much. Just for fun this
time, however, I thought I'd see how much
variation I could get out of just that checked pattern.

Cut on the bias, the checks make a nice trim:

More of the contrast bias pattern on the pocket.

The smocking turns the checks into stripes and triangles.

This back button placket turned out to be unnecessary.
The smocking was stretchy enough to not need
any extra ease or opening at the back.

Bearing in mind Emily's growth spurts, I made it very roomy.
She's going to grow out of it by the end of summer anyway -
her other dresses have all lasted about three months each.




Too lazy to do embroidery on the bottom hem, so cheated
and used satin ric-rac. Can't get any more old-fashioned
than an entire dress of gingham with ric-rac, can it?


Since you asked, here are some sketches and in-the-process
photos of the smocking stitches. Auntie Laura showed
me how to begin and how to knot off, and how to do the
cable stitch. Then she sent me off to do the rest myself.
Our family is like that - we're very "Go figure it out yourself!
How else will you learn?" Painful but effective.

But I'm going to be a little more indulgent, and show you.

There are many ways to do smocking, of course.
You could invest in a pleating machine, or iron
evenly-spaced pleats, or baste pleats beforehand.
Or buy transfer dots and put dots on your solid fabric
so you know where to stitch. Gingham or polka dot
fabric already has a ready-made natural grid so you
can just start stitching. The pleats may not be as
crisp as linen but I don't mind. At any rate, this is
an easy fabric for free-hand smocking practice.


I used only three very basic stitches, as I mentioned in the earlier post.

1 The cable stitch - a foundation stitch right at the top of the pattern to form the pleats. The stitches are close together vertically and horizontally. Other stitches are added in rows below the foundation stitch.

This is one row of cable stitches, sewn left to right

and this is the second row of cable stitches sewn
under the first, and stitched right to left.

2 The wave stitch- a loose stitch used to hold groups (in this case, 3) of pleats together:

3 The honeycomb stitch - very like the cable stitch but alternating, and farther apart vertically.

Often it is prettiest with deep pleats, but I did these
these across single shallow pleats, to play with the
pattern of checks. This is one row (sewn left to right)
of honeycomb stitches I did in black thread to
show the needle placement and poor tension (too tight)
Note also that the pleats above them, lacking a
foundation stitch, are atrocious.


These are three (very short) rows of honeycomb stitches -
the second row was sewn right to left and this third row
is again sewn left to right. The tension in the bottom row
is better and the pattern of triangles is beginning to form.


I also used two very basic embroidery stitches
(the French knot and lazy daisy stitch):


You can combine them in any number of ways to
make different patterns. Here are sketches of the yoke pattern



and the pocket pattern:
(Note how the tops of the pleats are sewn (by machine)
in place once the smocking is completed.)

And this is how I got started:

1. Measure the wearer and get a dress pattern - either draft or buy one.
2. Roughly lay out the pattern on the fabric as shown to make sure everything fits within the fabric but do not cut anything out. (Ignore the eerily displaced words "the front pattern" next to the sketch - they mean nothing, but I couldn't get rid of them).
3. Mark the outline of the left side and top of the front pattern (shown in bold line). This is so you know where to begin smocking.
4. Remove all the pattern pieces and start smocking.

Here is that outline you marked. Begin half an inch (roughly_ from the top and from the left edge of the sewing line. The half inch is the sewing allowance for adding the bias tape and yoke later.

Once the smocking is done, sew shut the pleats
at the top of the smocking, and sew up the dress.