I'm well aware of the anachronism here; I'm not into girly things for myself, and I don't have a daughter to sew for. The smocked items I have made have all been gifts. I take pleasure in the detailed hand work, which I find is sturdy enough to pack up and carry around with me.
Looking back, it seems I've taken more pictures of incomplete garments than completed ones, but in fact I have not had more than two on the go at any given time. But the process is in many ways much more interesting to me than the finished product.
A number of the harder lessons are about fabric and color choice, rather than the details of the workmanship. I'm not proud of all of these items, especially now that the oldest are a couple of years in the past, and predate my experience as a parent with children's clothing.
Ellen McCarn's bishop pattern, size 12M but shortened a lot, Kona "robin egg" DMC 747, 3808 and 3810.
Given to the church silent auction winner (2010). This is the first one that I did the seamless
pleating on; shoulder seams are flat-felled after smocking.
Spring 2011
This yoke dress is made from the Ellen McCarn pattern, in size 2. The fabric
is a peach Kona cotton, and it's embroidered with DMC 335, 498 and white.
Late Summer 2008
I did the placket and neck binding on this blue bishop (made with
the Ellen McCarn bishop pattern, in size 3M) before the smocking.
Colors are DMC 796, 798, 800, and the fabric is again a Kona cotton.
Summer 2008
The Liberty lawn that I used for this came from my mother's stash;
it's again a size 3M Ellen McCarn bishop dress. I smocked fewer
rows than I'd initially planned for due to the fabric tending to go
off-grain in the pleater.
Early Summer 2008
I figured out part way into this one that the fabric was really a poor choice. I was far enough in that I finished it anyway. The previous project had apparently showed me that putting in piping everywhere is worth the trouble.
In between these two I got the courage to put a french seam
through the pleater. I think this one has hand-faked french seams.
I moved very quickly to another, in a fabric I knew I liked.
Early Summer 2008
This was my first yoke dress; I thought it would go a little quicker than a bishop, but boy was I mistaken. There's just so much fiddling around with piping in this pattern, and a lot of hand-tacking to be done everywhere the piping goes in.
The fabric is Enduring Blooms by P&B Textile; pattern is Ellen
McCarn's, size 3M.
Early Spring 2008
I think I pleated this with the mechanical pleater, but pleated
each section before sewing them together. The poor job of pleating
didn't make it a pleasure to work on.
This one was hand-pleated with knott's dots, before I got my
pleater; and a pain that was, too. I fear the fabric was a little
loud and blotchy from a distance, and the collar a little clownish.
May 2007
This never had a clear direction to it, and got put together
into a clumsy looking sundress. I pleated by hand, according to the
pattern of the fabric.
My first project, involving dots for pleating. I'm still not
clear on why I made life hard for myself by using a knit. I don't
think I ever got the neck bound tightly enough. The pattern was
improvised from a commercial pattern for a dress with a round yoke.
Of course, I couldn't get started without knowing how wide to
expect my smocking to end up, so I worked up a sample first.
September 2006