When we released our first smocking pattern, Mama and Baby Giraffe, I promised more were on the way. Our next Smocking Plate is completed and now available in the store! Little Birdy is an advanced beginner smocking plate. It uses basic smocking stitches including Cable, Trellis, Wave and Flowerette. The Little Bird is a beginning Stacked Cable figure. The pattern is 11 pages long and comes with a stitch glossary that includes step by step photos showing how to complete each

I am so excited to announce our first Downloadable Smocking Plate Design: Mama and Baby Giraffe! Fiona inspired Little Hippo: and in honor of April and her adorable son Tajiri, I created Mama and Baby Giraffe! The Mama and Baby Giraffe Smocking Plate includes a full color picture of the finished stitched plate, a full color graph on 8 1/2 x 11 paper (no more squinting to count the stitches), and step by step photos of the basic stitches. Mama and Baby Giraffe is an intermedia

This past Tuesday, I had the privilege of attending a tour of the McCall’s Pattern Company in New York City, as part of a Smocking Arts Guild Meet-Up. The tour explained the development of a sewing pattern from design concept to the finished pattern available for purchase; a process that takes a year and a half from start to finish. The tour began in the Design Center where the color predictions for spring 2018 were on display. The designers had just been in that morning to r