SMOCKING.

Is a fabric manipulation technique, in which hand stitching is used to create areas of tension and release within the fabric.

The results of this technique can create a very sculptural effect, that can sometimes appear more complicated than they actually are.

Before elastic, smocking was used to gather fabric so that is could stretch. Smocking was commonly used in cuffs, bodices and necklines in garments where buttons were undesirable. Smocking was used most extensively in the 18th and 19th centuries.

HISTORY

STEP BY STEP:

1. Draw a grid on a piece of paper the same size as your fabric

2. Pin the paper to the fabric

3. Poke wholes in each of the corners, make sure to go through the fabric, this will create a grid which will help you be as exact as possible and have consistent spacing.

4. Example of a specific smocking pattern

4.2 Repeat across the line. Each line should me made with a separate piece of thread.

4.3 Flip the fabric and begin to pull on the access thread to create tension in the fabric. You can adjust with your fingers to create your desired effect.

INTERVENTIONS:

incorporate copperwire, or another more sturdy material to create a sculpturing effect

make areas with more concentrated smocking to create hardness and play with the form

dye the fabric before smocking it

dye after smocking

use pattered fabric and then smock it

play with positive and negative space, cut holes in the fabric

create my own threading pattern

choose not to use a specific pattern at all

apply the tension and release idea to another material

Play with shrinking

Apply tension in another way e.g using heat

Research modern versions of smocking r.g using machinery

Dye using acrylic, the fact that it hardens could be interesting

Use mesh fabric

Combine different types of fabric together

Combine fabric with a 'strange' material (foam, plastic bags...)