Archive
Smocking Plates
Free Smocking Plate: Pirate Adventures
Posted by Claire on May 06 2012
Poor boys. They never get their fair share of the creativity, do they? Girls get the dresses and the ribbons and all the pretties. Boys end up with the snips and snails. But since it’s been ages since I posted a freebie here on the blog, I thought folks with little boys would enjoy this […]
Free Smocking Plate: Holiday Nutcracker
Posted by Claire on Nov 16 2011
Boy smocking is always a challenge, especially when it comes to the holidays. The rules are as follows: nothing too ‘old fashioned’ ; nothing too ‘cutesy’ ; nothing too ‘fey’. Hopefully, this nutcracker soldier offers you a way to incorporate smocking into your holiday sewing without sentencing your little one to years of intensive therapy […]
A Very Tiny (Free) Smocking Design
Posted by Claire on Aug 30 2011
It’s been a while since I’ve posted any new smocking designs, so here is a quick and easy trellis band. This one is very small – perfect for a baby’s nightgown or when you just need a small amount of something at the centre front. Then again, it would be a simple matter of extending […]
Monkeying Around Smocking Plate
Posted by Claire on Apr 03 2011
My “Monkeying Around” dress was published in the latest issue of SAGA News. I wrote about it last summer, when I was hmming and hawing over whether or not to correct the ripply binding. (I ultimately did, btw) Here are a few snapshots of the dress, pre-corrections. It looks really cute on the cover and […]
Free 1940s Smocking Plate
Posted by Claire on Oct 13 2010
I saw this cute late 1940s smocking pattern offered for sale on a vintage pattern site recently. I didn’t buy it but I was struck by the charming banded smocking pattern, which so typifies designs of the period. There’s a wealth of ideas to be gleaned from early patterns. I often study vintage pattern illustrations, […]