Page:A complete course in dressmaking, (Vol. 4, Blouses) (IA completecoursein04cono).pdf/17

 the position of the needle in taking the stitches and Fig. 13 the honeycomb smocking finished.

Stroked Smocking: This particular kind of smocking is really easier to work than the honeycomb smocking. Perhaps, you will

understand it better, if I tell you why it is called stroked. Gather threads are run into the material at even spaces and drawn up, which throw the goods into little folds. Creasing these folds is called stroking because back in the days when grandmother smocked, she used to crease the folds by stroking the needle over them. Once the folds are creased, any design can be worked on top of them in fancy stitches.

Run in the gather threads, placing the stitches in the lower thread directly below the stitches in the upper thread. (See Fig. 14.) When drawn up they will form folds as shown in Fig. 15. In working out a pointed design, take the stitches in each fold as shown in Fig. 16. Cross stitches, as in Fig. 17, are also effective, worked over the folds.