1) Smocking

Smocking is a form of decoration on a garment created by gathering a section of the material into tight pleats and holding them together with parallel stitches in an ornamental pattern.

Materials:

1) Relatively thick fabric with enough friction [not too smooth]

2) Needle and thread

3) Pencils or chalk

4) Rulers

Steps:

1. Google smocking on google and shortlist your desired pattern.
2. Using chalk/ pencil to draw out grids on your fabric using a ruler.
3. Poke your thread through the needle and tie a knot.
4. Start sewing from point 1 to point 2 to point 3 and finally to point 4 on the grid drawn.
5. Pull the thread from behind and fasten it with another knot.
6. Cut the thread and repeat the steps for all the other grids.

      

Like the 4 images shown above, sew it from point 1 to point 4.  After this, pull the thread from behind to reach this pattern.

Continue this method for the rest of the fabric.

FINAL RESULT:

Front:

Back:

CLOSE VIEW:

 

2) Stitching with elastics: 

Materials:

1) Relatively thin fabric ( so that the effect can be seen easily)

2) Needle and thread

3) Elastic bands

4) Sewing Machine and Pins

Steps:

1. Take the desired length and size of the fabric.
2. Measure the amount of elastic band needed (usually half the length of the fabric used) and cut it.
3. Stretch the elastic band to the full length of the fabric and pin it at various points to keep the elastic band there.
4. Start sewing using the sewing machine while holding the elastic band firmly.
5. Pull the elastic band manually while the sewing continues until the elastic band reaches the other end of the fabric.

First attempt: 

I used extremely thin chiffon-like material with a thin elastic band and this is the result. I felt that the gathers were quite apparent due to the thin material. However, the sewing of the elastic band proved to be a challenge for me as the thread tends to stray away from the elastic band, resulting in an up-down-up kind of stitches that were not straight and uniform.

Second attempt: 

For the second try, I tried to use the same fabric from the smocking attempt since it is thicker. I have decided to make the fabric into a small pouch. However, I realised it was even harder to sew it in a circular manner and it resulted in many sewing stitches that were not uniform at all.

 

Overall, I think that smocking is really fun and the results obtained were very satisfying for me! I think I would consider smocking for my final project since I quite like the floral theme so far amongst all my attempts.

Applications:

smocking.

Sewing with elastics- shirring.