How to Make a Smock Top

Smocking is a way of gathering material and then embroidering over the gathers. It is decorative for baby girl dresses or for a billowy summer top. It does take some practice to get the various embroidery stitches and tension even, but once you learn the process you'll use it for more than just clothing.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Lightweight material
• Iron-on dots
• Iron
• Smocking cotton thread
• Smocking needle

How to Make a Smock Top

1. Gather the width of your fabric. Use a needle and thread to stitch 2 rows of running stitches at the top of the fabric. Tie off securely. Put an additional 2 running stitch rows 4 inches below that, and another 2 rows 4 inches below for the bottom. Gather the fabric evenly at the top, middle and bottom rows. Use a toothpick to ensure that the gathers are precisely even. You can also ask a dressmaker to pleat your fabric with a gathering pleater.

2. Steam iron the gathers all toward the left, making them into mini-pleats. Use purchased iron-on dots to help you make a diagonal pattern. They show where to take the stitches, or use dressmaker's chalk and a ruler and make your own marks by drawing 2 straight lines across the top of the fabric 1/2 inch apart. Begin smocking on the left side on the bottom row you just drew.

3. Start smocking by threading a smocking needle and take a stitch from under the fabric up the left side of a pleat. Go over the top plus the next right-hand pleat and down into the fabric to the back side, securing 2 pleats together. These are smocked pleats #1 and #2. The next stitch is placed diagonally up and over ½ inch on the top line. Bring the needle up the left side of pleat #2 and over the top of the right-hand #3 pleat and down into the back of the fabric again. Return to the bottom level and come up on the side of the #3 pleat, over the right side of #4 pleat, and down into the fabric again. Continue across the fabric in this manner, smocking sets of pleats as you go.

4. Make another set of lines ½ inch below the first row of smocking and continue smocking pleats in the same zigzag pattern. If you do the exact pattern, your smoking will take on a zigzag appearance down the length of the fabric. If you reverse the pattern to start the first 2 smocked pleats on the top row just under the original stitches and then move down to the bottom row for your second stitches, you will create a diamond-shaped smock pattern.

5. Turn your smocking into a shirt by using the width of your smocked portion in any shirt pattern that doesn't use a front button closure. The smocked part is simply the embellishment of the fabric you will use.

Tips & Warnings

• Vary your stitches by making a French knot to smock a pair of pleats instead of just a simple stitch. Try lazy daisy loops of cross stitches. The object of smocking is to gather pleats and make the work decorative. Plan diagonal stitching, zigzag or diamond patterns. Even a column of stitches looks lovely.
• Never smash an iron down hard on smocking because it will destroy the loft of the embroidery and crush the pleats.

Resources

• Video Smocking Help
• Up Close Smocking Techniques