English Smocking is embroidery on pleats that have been pleated before smocking. It is an art form whose origin has been obscured in history but has been handed down from generation to generation much like the sagas, songs and myths, however it's roots are traceable to a point through looking at the art of the past and in stitchery. If you look at paintings from the Italian and German Renaissance you will see lots of examples of smocking on mens shirts and ladies chemises. Italian Shirring, which has it's roots in the basic running stitch, in my opinion is a form of smocking all dressed up.
Beginnings
How it all started? There are clues but nothing has been written down until the late 19th century as with all fold traditions smocking was handed down from generation to generation. We find examples of smocking or embroidery on pleated fabric all around the world tucked away in museums from indignant cultures to examples of smocking in paintings and wooden carvings as early as the 12th century, with also mentions of an embroidered smoc in Elizabeth the 1st's household accounting. Sarah Douglas, author of the Pleater Manual, has also stated that she saw a piece of embroidery in the Embroiderer's Collection from a Danish Bog which to her eye looking like early smocking, dating back to 1175 BC! When smocking really started we don't know but according to tradition in England 'smocking has been around forever'.
Other Styles
Today, besides English Smocking there are also a couple of other styles of contemporary smocking. The first is North American Smocking which appears to have been either invented or a form of an old style promoted by Butterick & Co. late 19th Century, which was very popular from the 30's through the 60's. This style consisted of iron-on transfers of pairs of dots formed in a pattern that while stitching made up a smocking design and pleats at the same time. Today you will find this early North American style not so popular among the major pattern companies, much to the dismay of women who learnt in the 50's and 60's and who are coming back to smocking. The pattern companies have now shifted to the English style of smocking due to it's popularity in the magazines Creative Needle, Sew Beautiful and Australian Smocking and Embroidery and are now including in their smocking patterns a sheet of iron-on transfer dots for you to make up the pleats first and then do the stitching. (I have also seen recently that the major pattern companies are also going back through their archives and are now printing up the old dot to dot method of smocking.)
Counterchange Smocking
The second style evolved from smocking on gingham, is called Counterchange Smocking where you use striped fabric, gingham or dotted fabric, and mark where you place your stitches. The history of Counterchange in America has an interesting place in pre and post civil war southern life and has advanced greatly in the past 10 years into a unique form of picture smocking without cables.
Lattice Smocking
A third style is known as Lattice Smocking and is familiar to those who had smocked pillows. This technique is worked on the backside of the fabric creating the unique and consistent folds on the front. While not as popular a style as English Smocking Lattice Smocking is gaining acceptance as a way to embellish fabric on sleeves and bodice fronts, especially in the heavier fabrics such as velvet and velveteen. The contemporary smocking designer, Laura Jenkins Thompson has just written a booklet on the technique.
From the Garden Fairies Trading Company web site; copyright © 2003 Beth-Katherine Kaiman