North American Smocking: 9 Squares

Download PDF: Smocking Pattern 9 Squares

You will need:

Fabric
Scissors
Basic 30cm Ruler
Pencil/Tailors Chalk
Hand Sewing Needle
Sewing Thread same colour as fabric if possible (Ideally strong quilters thread but if it is only a sample then any sewing thread is good enough)

Tip: You may use the width of a ruler to mark the gridlines or use a ruler to measure out 1.5-3cm evenly spaced dots. I find it is much faster to use the width of a ruler to draw a grid while some designs is better to use the dot system. Using the dot system will allow you to use either side of the fabric to show more than one design. Depending on the design, your fabric will shrink up to 50% of the original size. Mark your grids/dots on grain. Do not use thread longer than your forearm otherwise it will end up knotted or tangled. The type of fabric used also plays an important part of the design. Using scale, type of fabric and whether you choose to iron the fabric after will help greatly to achieving a different outcome.

Using a basic ruler, I marked out a grid of lines or dots on the wrong side of the fabric. Using the width will ensure the lines are evenly spaced out without having to measure.
You may jot down the numbers on the fabric to help you recognise where you will be stitching next. After a while of stitching you should be able to workout which stitches you need to do next. Sometimes on more complicated designs it is wise to have numbers to help you.
Get a piece of sewing thread roughly double the length of your forearm. Thread the hand sewing needle with the thread. Bring the 2 ends together. Up to you if you want to knot the ends.
Follow the pattern instructions. Where there is a colour line joining 2 black dots, sew them together. You may jot down the sewing sequence to help you remember for next time.
Each time you complete a cluster of stitches remember to tie off tightly. I tie a few times just to make sure. Sometimes you don’t require to cut off just to save time but things could get messy.

INSTRUCTIONS

Please note: Sometimes you might see a pattern marked with a Square and sometimes a X. Both are acceptable illustrations since it creates the same pattern. The left is mainly used as an instruction on a pattern while the right is when you quickly mark the fabric so you know when to sew 4 points together.

Prepare your grid on the wrong side of the fabric.

I used 2.5cm on a medium weight satin fabric.

Mark in the instructions.

Start at any corner of the square.

Using needle and thread, pick up a few threads on the fabric at the dots/points/corners indicated.

Do this to all 4 corners and return back to point 1 which will complete the 5th stitch.

Pull to gather the corners and secure.

First complete all Pink stitches until you have created enough clusters of 4 flowers.

Ignore the Green lines. They are not stitches, just a guide to show you the spacing.

At each cluster of 4 flowers, you are going to pick up 2 petals that are reaching out to 2 neighbouring flowers.

They create a peak and stands up.

You should be left with 2 free petals on each flower. This will be used up with the other clusters later. Use your needle to help pick up the peaks.

Use the grid lines to find the centre.

Pull the 4 peaks together and knot to secure.

Do not sew it to the base.

Move onto another cluster of 4 flowers. Repeat the above process.

After a while you will not be able to recognise any flower petals but only diamond shapes.

After a while you will get this design appearing on the right side the fabric. If you use a medium weight satin, you should get this result. I used 2.5cm spacing to draw my grid. If you are using a light weight satin, I will recommend you using a smaller grid size.

Use larger grid size for heavy satin like Duchess Satin.

This design does not require ironing if you are using a bouncy fabric. If you are using cotton, you might want to iron it.