Yesterday I spent a pleasant hour in the Reading Room at the Museum of English Rural Life, having a look at a couple of books about smocking that had been put to one side for me.
The books were Smocking: A Practical Beginner’s Guide, by Audrey Vincente Dean, and Smocking: Traditional and Modern Approaches by Oenone Cave and Jean Hodges. Both of them were really useful, and I’m currently on the lookout for second hand copies that I can keep open while I’m sewing.
As you can see, I’ve made a start on the prototype child’s dressing-up smock. It’s taken me all day to reach this point – I spent most of the morning cutting out the back, front and sleeves, and completing all the gathering. In the background of the picture you can just see the smocking dot transfers that help you to space the gathers very neatly.
My next mission is to try and find out whether honeycomb smocking is a traditional stitch used in the eighteenth century, or whether it’s too modern for me to use on this particular smock.
I’m going to be volunteering at the Museum on Monday, looking through their smock collection, so I guess I’ll be able to find out!