Smocked Nightdresses

Christmas was almost upon me this year before it registered that I had not made the nightdresses that I usually make for my granddaughters for Christmas. A hurried search of my stash retrieved the liberty cottons I had purchased at some point in the last year for this purpose and I got to work.

The only dilemma was sizing. I can now almost cut out and pleat the fabric on autopilot. I smocked both the fronts and the backs of both, using different colours so the girls can easily tell which is meant to be the back and which the front.  Unfortunately, I did not take many photos.

Fortunately, my sizing was within range - a little on the large side but not unwearably so - guaranteeing a couple of years usage. The girls were well pleased with them.                                                                                                                               In the excitement of Christmas Day I forgot to take photos. Suffice it to say they looked great!

Smocked nightdress

With another birthday this month so I dug out suitable nightdress material and set about smocking it for my eldest granddaughter. My standard child's nightdress pattern goes to size 12, her about-to-be age, but as I am programmed to make children's clothes a size bigger to allow growing room, I used the adult size 8.

I pleated up both front and back. The fabric is a pale pink batiste and I wanted to give it a bit of colour punch without losing the charm of the background colour. I went for blue and pink with depth.

For the back I chose a simple variegated blue. That way it is easy to tell at a glance which is the front and which the back.



As I made it up, I decided the sleeves were cut a bit deep so improvised.


I also had a notion to embroider a panel up the side of the nightdress. I found the collection of iron-on transfers
I inherited from my mother.


Most of these were produced in the 1940s and were meant for doilies, runners of table centrepieces. I chose a few I thought suitable and arranged them along the side seam.















I embroidered them in similar colours to the smocking.

The hem presented a bit of a challenge. I didn't want to use lace as in the pattern - I think it is a bit uncomfortable to wear. I couldn't fold the hem to the outside to embroider, without altering the side seams, so I folded it to the inside but featherstitched from the outside, making sure I stitched right through the folds of the hem.






I found the finished nightdress difficult to photograph.

The pink is way too pink - but gives some idea of the overall effect.

It has been well received - and fits!

Smocked dress for Niamh

The challenge in smocking a dress for Niamh this Christmas was to come up with both a pattern and a fabric that was summery, different to Veronica's but equally desirable. I chose a batiked cotton I bought in Indonesia several years ago in mauves and gold - figured it would go with her complexion in the same way as the black in Veronica's dress worked with hers.

The pattern was a bit harder to find, but I settled on a sundress called Summer Dreams, from AS&E 61. . While this has not the drama of the ribbon ties on Veronica's dress, it had some potential for spectacular buttons.

The smocking was straightforward but lengthy as it goes all the way around the skirt. You join the back and front skirts, then pleat and smock the whole piece.

Once the smocking is completed, the construction was fairly straightforward. I added some piping in mauve. I also settled for Velcro, rather than button closure. Since it fastens at the back, I figured a 7 year-old was better off without buttons.


The result is pleasing. While the dress is not dramatic as is Veronica's, Niamh looks fabulous in it. And likes it, which counts most.

Smocked dress for Veronica

When Veronica was about 3 years old I bought a kit for a dress that I thought would one day really suit her. It was Poppy in AS&E 87. I bought the largest size - 7 - to give myself the maximum time to confirm my hunch that it had her name on it. When she turned 7 in September I did not have time to make dresses, so this Christmas really was my deadline.

The smocking on this dress took me several nights to complete. The pattern is on a yoke, and the bodice is back-smocked for about 3 inches, then smocked in black with two rows of very pale green and some white touches in the middle.



I initially made an error, and did the first trellis in white instead of pale green.  I doubted it would make a difference - but it did, and I replaced it.


There are interesting touches - like a wave over a double cable, creating almost a running stitch effect.

It was a little tricky working in black, but a really interesting design to smock, with a harmonious result.


The basic construction was, as usual, fairly straightforward. The trickiest bit was the piping and bias strips cut from white pique.

It has a very interesting cross-over back, tied at the side with wide ribbon, threaded through buttonholes. It is a great design by Susan O'Connor, really well suited to the fabric.

For a range of reasons, we have celebrated Christmas with our extended family a little early this year - the only reason I can post this before Christmas and give you a peak at the wearer.


I have, of course, another dress to write about next time - but that will need to wait until next weekend. It can carry my New Year wishes.

This one seemed an appropriate one to post at this time and to use to wish us all a very Happy Christmas.

Birthday Skirt

I had enough of the blue fabric left from Niamh's dress to make a skirt for Veronica. I therefore put the smocked dress I had intended for her on hold and launched into the skirt. I wanted to see if I could use the geometric weave of the fabric as a guide for smocking - a bit like counterchange smocking, which uses the lines of gingham as a guide.

I began with a line of stem stitch around the top in blue, then three rows of half-space waves.

It wasn't too difficult to do - but the effect was much more ruched than traditional smocking where there are sharp pleats. Nor did it give the tight effect of counterchange smocking.



I added a band at the waist, leaving a small plaquet on the side, which I secured with velcro. I didn't think there was sufficient elasticity to put on and off comfortably.







You can see the ruching effect here in truer colour.

I felt it needed a bit of complementary hem decoration, so used the same pink thread to embroider a line of open chain stitch around the bottom.

It is a simple, colourful, easy skirt with a bit of texture interest. It is not an heirloom piece, but will get a lot of wear over summer.

Veronica tried it with a couple of pre-existing smocked tops before settling on a tshirt (good choice, I reckon). My phone battery went flat before I could capture her twirling!

Another Birthday Nightdress

Brigid's birthday is in February, and since the winter nightdress I made for her has been a hit, I wanted to make a summer one for her birthday. I have a bit of fabric in my stash bought with nightdresses in mind but most of it more suited to either older or younger ages. I dug out a large piece of white seersucker that I inherited in my mother's stash, washed it and pleated it up, using my old favourite pattern, Victorian Dreams for Girls by Primrose Lane.

I really liked the pattern Kaleidescope, a white dress smocked in clear, bright colours in AS&E 71. I had resisted making it because no mother would thank me for a white dress! The smocking, however, could be easily adapted to a nightdress.

I selected eight rows from the smocking design for the front of the nightdress. These have flowers on tall stems embroidered between the smocked rows.

 Although the pattern doesn't smock the back, I usually do. I like smocking, and I think the smocking serves a good purpose in holding the gathers. For the back I chose another eight rows from Kaleidoscope, this time with embroidered pistil stitch flowers.

The seersucker washed and stitched up beautifully. It should also wash and wear really well. I am very pleased to have used Kaleidoscope at last and to have made a cool, simple nightdress.

My mother would also have been very pleased with this use of the fabric and Brigid was pleased to have it.

Brigid's Christmas skirt

I wanted to make a skirt for Brigid that was a bit more sophisticated than those I have made before. I used the pattern Born to Shop in Designer Smocking for Tots to Teens. The smocked panel in this is decorative, rather than functional (that is, the smocking does not serve a purpose of holding gathers in place, rather it is attached to a panel that itself  forms the shape required - in this case the hip-piece). I usually go for patterns that use the smocking functionally, but thought this one might really suit Brigid.

As the skirt component of this pattern is a full circle, it requires 150cm wide fabric. Nothing in my stash quite fit the bill, so I bought some spotty fabric from Hetty's Patch and set to.

I kept the smocking colours as close as I could to the fabric colours.

The pattern is an unusual and attractive set of interlocking diamonds.






I joined the front and back before pleating and smocked it all as one panel.


In constructing I varied a bit from the suggested method. Rather than attach the smocked panel and lining together to the skirt, I attached the smocked panel to the skirt and used the lining as a facing.

I edged the skirt frills using a small , close zig-zag right on the edge, so it formed a tiny roll-over.

The waist looked a bit big to me, and I couldn't try it on, as it was a present, so I ran soft elastic through the waist. I'll remove it if not needed.

It looks a bit odd on the coathanger, but will hang OK on a Brigid I think. I don't have a photo as yet, but will add if I get one.

Veronica's Smocked Skirt

Here is the second of my Morris Meadows smocked skirts, this one for Veronica.

Once again, I chose the thread, then followed the prompt of the gathered fabric to design the smocking. For this one I stuck to two colours - the blue and the pink, and worked zig-zags, blue at top and bottom, two sets of pink in the centre.

This one was very simple - but quite effective I think. The density of the smocking off-sets the predominance of green in the fabric.


As always, the tricky bit is gathering and attaching the frill, but it caused no great dramas.



I hemmed this one with a small turn-over - didn't need to bind the edge.

As these two girls get older, I shall miss the gratification of gift recipients stripping off their clothes to immediately put on an outfit I have made!