Smocking activity

North American Smocking

Smocked pillows on an exhibition stand.

Photo: Daniel Graves, 2023.

Have a go at smocking, inspired by the Dorcas Stories from the Front Room exhibition which took place in the Mailbox in Birmingham in October 2023.

A piece of fabric, a template page, a small pair of scissors, a ruler, a pencil and a round of thread.

Equipment

You will need:

  • fabric, roughly A4-sized
  • an arm’s length of embroidery thread (thicker thread is helpful as it doesn’t snap when pulled tightly)
  • a sewing needle
  • a marker of some kind – tailor’s chalk, pencil, or marker pen
  • scissors
  • ‘Smocking template’ paper pattern (download below) or draw your own (with a ruler)

To smock, you will use three sorts of stitches:

One to pull the fabric tight between two points – this is called a ‘pulled’ stitch.

One to take you thread to the next position, with the fabric lying flat – this is called a ‘slack’ stitch.

One to secure the previous stitch and fabric in place – this is called a ‘holding’ stitch.

Instructions

  1. Copying the template, draw or transfer the pattern on to the reverse or ‘wrong’ side of your fabric.

One way to do this, as show above, is to push the needle through the points where the solid and dotted lines meet, then place the paper template over your fabric and push through the holes with a pencil or pen.

You can then use a ruler to join the dots as shown on the paper template, and perhaps number the first row so you know where to sew next.

2. To start, thread the needle, and tie a knot at the end of your thread. Push the needle into and back out of point 1, so that the knot is on the reverse side of the fabric.

3. Then, make a ‘pulled’ stitch – sew into and back out of point 2, and then pull the thread so that the fabric folds, joining points 1 and 2. To secure, do a holding stitch.

4. Next, make a ‘slack’ stitch which runs to point 3. The stitch should be flat on the surface of the material. To hold the ‘slack’ stitch in place, make a ‘holding’ stitch at point 3.

5. Now, you’re going to repeat this formation – ‘pulled’ stitch, ‘holding’ stitch, ‘slack’ stitch, ‘holding’ stitch.

Make a ‘pulled’ stitch between point 3 and point 4, then secure with a ‘holding’ stitch. Then, make a ‘slack’ stitch between point 4 and point 5, then secure with a ‘holding’ stitch.

6. Repeat the sequence, working on the reverse, until you get to the end of the row. It should look like this (pictured below, on the right) after the first row is complete.

The below images show 3 repeats. You can make each row as long as you’d like, and make as many rows as you like, until your design is complete!



Where Next?

Smocking activity

Learn how to do smocking.

Smocked pillows on an exhibition stand.

Dorcas Stories: Windrush Arrivals (1948 to 1962)

Finding craftspeople on the Windrush.

Evelyn Wauchop's landing card. A recreation of the card with her name and 'stowaway' written on it.

Dorcas Stories: We are Here to Stay (1962 to the 1980’s)

Stories of Caribbean immigrants.

In the foreground, part of a dress with a graphic bamboo pattern on it. In the blurred background is a sewing machine and a vintage handbag.

Dorcas Stories: Windrush Futures

Stories of the Windrush legacy.

Three women stand in a line with their backs to the camera and the sky visible in the background.


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