English Smocking in Embroidery Art
English smocking is the art of embroidering on fabric that has
been pleated specifically before beginning your smocking project.
This embroidery technique involves controlling a series of small
parallel fabric pleats with elaborate embroidery stitches. Beautiful
garments for women and children can be created using this technique.
English smocking is different from North American Smocking in that
with English Smocking the pleats have been pleated before smocking.
With North American smocking, the pleats are formed as you
embroider, and since there are no pleating threads to form your
piece, you must be conformed to an inflexible grid. The two types of
smocking are similar, but English Smocking is more versatile since
you can easily form the pleats into round shapes.
When the smocking pleater was invented in the 1950's it simplified
the method of English smocking. However, since that time, smocking
has become quite sophisticated and even elaborate at times. Smocking
guilds were even created in the 1980's so that women could gather
together to share their talents and pass along information to create
more elaborate designs and stitches. The early geometric designs
formed by smocking have evolved into very complex, yet delicate,
designs featuring bullion roses and leaves, as well as other
embroidered designs that include beads, buttons and ribbons.
After your fabric has been pleated, you may embroidery your design
by following the instructions of a smocking design plate. A smocking
plate is merely a piece of paper that contains a smocking design
(that has been copyrighted). There is generally a color photo on one
side of the plate with a graph and directions on the other side. You
can purchase these plates at various stores which cater to
embroidery smocking. There are a myriad of design patterns from
which to choose, including those for holidays, flowers, fairy tales,
animals, children's toys and other objects.
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