I have long loved the look of really good smocking, but I've always been intimidated by the pleating involved, prior to the actual embroidering of the smocking. After a conversation with Baroness Rainuillt at Pennsic (who's smocking leaves everyone else in the dust!) I decided to give it a try. Her Excellency recommended that instead of marking out all of my pleats ahead of time, I "eyeball" it, and do parallel rows of running stitches. This seemed to turn out fairly well.
Making the pleats:
Halfway through:
Finished!
I used a 3.5 oz linen ground fabric, and the smocking is done with 120/2 linen thread. I put a waistband on it, but I have yet to wear it!
This gave me my eighth competency for Athena's Thimble. This is a very simple honeycomb smocking- while working on this piece, I came across some much more ornate designs, with banded rows being worked in different stitches. Maybe next time!
Where do you get your linen thread at? I need a good source!
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