I Love To Smock!

The  Yoke of Emma's Smocked Baby Dresses.

I love to smock!  

Above you see an example of my smocking.  

I have  taught Beginner Smocking classes.  Everyone is  nervous at the beginning because they think it is sooo hard.  And after they have stitched awhile they begin to smile and realize that it is not hard at all.  But!  But, they complain, their work is not as pretty as mine.  It is not as good. Oh??  "Your smocking is way better than mine"  I tell them.  And then I bring out my pride and joy to show them.

I Smocked this little dress 37 years ago.  It was my first Smocking project.

I love baby girls in little Smocked Dresses.  I made this one for my daughter before the era of pleaters.  You hot stamped dots on the fabric and then you actually smocked as you picked up each dot with embroidery floss and who knows what needle!  You had to pick up the dots in the correct order for the Smocking design to work out right.

If you can't see how wonky my stitches are, click for a close up!

There was not one woman in my class whose smocking did not look better than this dress.  And I love this dress.  I thought it was  beautiful!  I had my daughters portrait (well, a K-mart portrait) taken in it.  She was beautiful.  The uneven stitches didn't concern me.  I only saw how cute my daughter was in this dress!  I can still see the beauty in this dress.  I see the beauty of the colors, the dainty fabric and the sweet stitched  design.  And the beauty of the love my fingers worked into this little dress.  And the beauty of my baby who wore it.

And no one disagreed.

So, here is to beauty and not perfection!