# Smocking

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{{Short description|Craft embroidery technique}}
thumb|Smocking on the collar of a sixteenth-century garment

'''Smocking''' is an [embroidery](/source/embroidery) technique used to gather [fabric](/source/fabric) so that it can stretch. Before [elastic](/source/elastomer), smocking was commonly used in [cuff](/source/cuff)s, [bodice](/source/bodice)s, and [neckline](/source/neckline)s in garments where [button](/source/button)s were undesirable. Smocking developed in [England](/source/England) and has been practised since the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages) and is unusual among embroidery methods in that it was often worn by labourers. Other major embroidery styles are purely decorative and represented status symbols. Smocking was practical for garments to be both form fitting and flexible, hence its name derives from ''[smock](/source/Smock-frock)'' — an agricultural labourer's work shirt.<ref>Reader's Digest, p. 160.</ref> Smocking was used most extensively in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.<ref name="Good Housekeeping, p. 146">Good Housekeeping, p. 146.</ref>

== Materials ==
Smocking requires lightweight fabric with a stable weave that gathers well. [Cotton](/source/Cotton) and [silk](/source/silk) are typical fiber choices, often in [lawn](/source/lawn_cloth) or [voile](/source/voile). Smocking is worked on a [crewel embroidery](/source/crewel_embroidery) [needle](/source/Sewing_needle) in cotton or silk thread and normally requires three times the width of initial material as the finished item will have.<ref>Reader's Digest, pp. 160–161.</ref> Historically, smocking was also worked in [piqué](/source/Piqu%C3%A9_(weaving)), [crepe de Chine](/source/crepe_de_Chine), and [cashmere](/source/cashmere_wool).<ref>{{cite web |last=Gilman |first=Elizabeth Hale |title=Things Girls Like to Do |year=1917 |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/History/History-idx?type=div&did=HISTORY.GILMANTHINGS.I0026&isize=text |access-date=January 5, 2008}}</ref> According to ''Good Housekeeping: The Illustrated Book of Needlecrafts'', "Any type of fabric can be smocked if it is supple enough to be gathered."<ref name="Good Housekeeping, p. 146"/>

Fabric can be gathered into [pleat](/source/pleat)s in a variety of ways.  

Early smocking, or gauging, was done by hand. Some embroiderers also made their own guides using cardboard and an embroidery marking pencil.<ref name="Good Housekeeping, p. 146"/> By 1880, iron-on transfer dots were available and advertised in magazines such as ''Weldon's''. The iron-on transfers places evenly spaced dots onto the wrong side of the fabric, which were then pleated using a regular running stitch.  

Since the early 1950s, pleating machines have been available to home smockers. Using gears and specialty pleater needles, the fabric is forced through the gears and onto the threaded needles. Pleating machines are typically offered in 16-row, 24-row and 32-row widths.

== Methods ==
[[Image:Smockingmarked.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A smocking [sampler](/source/Sampler_(needlework)) demonstrating various stitches. See accompanying text in the article for details.]]

Smocking refers to work done before a garment is assembled. It usually involves reducing the dimensions of a piece of fabric to one-third of its original width, although changes are sometimes lesser with thick fabrics. Individual smocking stitches also vary considerably in tightness, so embroiderers usually work a [sampler](/source/Sampler_(needlework)) for practice and reference when they begin to learn smocking.<ref name="Good Housekeeping, p. 146"/>

Traditional hand smocking begins with marking ''smocking dots'' in a grid pattern on the wrong side of the fabric and gathering it with temporary [running stitch](/source/running_stitch)es. These stitches are anchored on each end in a manner that facilitates later removal and are analogous to [basting stitch](/source/basting_stitch)es. Then a row of cable stitching (see "A") stabilizes the top and bottom of the working area.<ref>Reader's Digest, pp. 161–162.</ref>

Smocking may be done in many sophisticated patterns.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smocking.org/files/Glossary-Smocking.pdf |title=2005 SAGA Glossary - Smocking Terms |website=Smocking Arts Guild of America |access-date=January 5, 2008}}</ref> 

Standard hand smocking stitches are: 

A. '''Cable stitch''': a tight stitch of double rows that joins alternating columns of gathers.<ref>Reader's Digest, p. 163.</ref>

B. '''Stem stitch''': a tight stitch with minimum flexibility that joins two columns of gathers at a time in single overlapping rows with a downward slope.<ref name="RD_164">Reader's Digest, p. 164.</ref>

C. '''Outline stitch''': similar to the stem stitch but with an upward slope.<ref name="RD_164" />

D. '''Cable flowerette''': a set of gathers worked in three rows of stitches across four columns of gathers. Often organized in diagonally arranged sets of flowerettes for loose smocking.<ref name="RD_165">Reader's Digest, p. 165.</ref>

E. '''Wave stitch''': a medium density pattern that alternately employs tight horizontal stitches and loose diagonal stitches.<ref>Reader's Digest, p. 166.</ref>

F. '''Honeycomb stitch''': a medium density variant on the cable stitch that double stitches each set of gathers and provides more spacing between them, with an intervening diagonal stitch concealed on the reverse side of the fabric.<ref>Reader's Digest, p. 167.</ref>

G. '''Surface honeycomb stitch''': a tight variant on the honeycomb stitch and the wave stitch with the diagonal stitch visible, but spanning only one gather instead of a gather and a space.<ref name="RD_168">Reader's Digest, p. 168.</ref>

H. '''Trellis stitch''': a medium density pattern that uses stem stitches and outline stitches to form diamond-shaped patterns.<ref name="RD_168" />

I. '''Vandyke stitch''': a tight variant on the surface honeycomb stitch that wraps diagonal stitches in the opposite direction.<ref name="RD_169">Reader's Digest, p. 169.</ref>

J. '''Bullion stitch''': a complex knotted stitch that joins several gathers in a single stitch. Organized similarly to cable flowerettes.<ref name="RD_169" />

* '''Smocker's knot''': (not depicted) a simple [knotted stitch](/source/knotted_stitch) used to finish work with a thread or for decorative purposes.<ref name="RD_165" />

==Organizations==
Smocking organizations and groups include the [Smocking Arts Guild of America](/source/Smocking_Arts_Guild_of_America) (SAGA),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smocking.org/about_saga.php |title=About SAGA |website=Smocking Arts Guild of America |access-date=December 11, 2018}}</ref> the [Smocking Arts Guild of NSW](/source/Smocking_Arts_Guild_of_NSW),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smockingguildnsw.com/index.php/about-us/ |title=About Us |website=Smocking Arts Guild of NSW |access-date=December 11, 2018}}</ref> and the [Embroiderers' Guild of America](/source/Embroiderers'_Guild_of_America). The [V and A](/source/Victoria_and_Albert_Museum) East Storehouse in London has many examples of smocking that can be viewed upon request.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brocket |first=Jane |date=2025-09-21 |title=gathering stitches and thoughts |url=https://substack.com/home/post/p-173927182 |access-date=2025-10-23 |website=yarnstorm}}</ref>

==See also==
*[Smock-frock](/source/Smock-frock)

== References ==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
*The Reader's Digest Association, ''Complete Guide to Embroidery Stitches'', Pleasantville, New York: Marabout, 2004. {{ISBN|0-7621-0658-1}}
*Ed. Cecilia K. Toth, ''Good Housekeeping: The Illustrated Book of Needlecrafts'', New York: Hearst Books, 1994. {{ISBN|1-58816-035-1}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Smocking}}
{{Wiktionary}}

*[http://www.smocking.org Smocking Arts Guild of America]
*[https://www.smockingguildnsw.com/index.php/about-us/ Smocking Arts Guild of NSW]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080112191134/http://www.smocking.org.za/smocking/history.php The History of Smocking] 
*[http://www.reading.ac.uk/Instits/im/the_collections/the_museum/smocks.html Examples of historic smocks]
*[http://www.smocking.org/files/Glossary-Smocking.pdf Glossary of Smocking Terms]

{{Embroidery}}

Category:Embroidery

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Smocking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smocking) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smocking?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.