History of Smocking
Excerpted from Creative Smocking by Chris Rankin

Smocking is one of the oldest forms of fabric manipulation – the shaping of fabric with pleats and stitches. Hundreds of years ago, when the construction of a garment often began with rectangular pieces of fabric in various sizes, smocking was used to gather up the fabric fullness at those points where fitting was necessary. The fabric was simply pleated up and stitched decoratively to hold its shape. Some of the earliest examples of smocked clothing were undergarments and shirts, heavily embellished and worn by the upper classes. The more familiar smock became popular in later centuries as a farm worker’s or laborer’s garment, sometimes waterproofed and worn to protect the clothing.

With the trend in this century toward sleeker styles, smocking has come to be associated mainly with delicate dresses for little girls. The advent of elastic has eliminated the need for smocking as a functional technique to control fabric fullness. Fashion and cost-consciousness of the garment industry have all but eliminated decorative stitching on ready-to-wear. And most women who do sew for themselves and their families rarely can spare the extra time to add elaborate hand-stitched embellishment to everyday garments.

Yet, in the past few years, embellishment of handmade clothing and household items is becoming increasingly popular. Perhaps the trend is due to a desire for individual expression when the fashion in clothing and accessories is for very simple lines and minimal adornment. Perhaps, too, the increased capabilities of sewing machines makes faster work of the functional aspects of sewing and leaves a little more time for creative fun.

Smocking has become very popular not just in its traditional form, but as an experimental technique for fiber artists and adventurous sewers who enjoy creating one-of-a-kind garments. It is increasingly used for an accent rather than as an overall design. It is mixed with other stitching techniques and with other forms of embroidery. Beading is added. Ribbon is incorporated into the design or used for the smocking itself. The neat, symmetrical pleats of traditional smocking are distorted and reconfigured in all directions.

The vast array of decorative threads that have become available during the past few years have enticed many stitchers to try smocking for the first time. Fascinating effects can be achieved when traditional stitches are worked with metallics, or interwoven with silk ribbon. Silk thread is no longer difficult to find and creates an absolutely elegant effect when used to smock silk fabric.

--© Chris Rankin