Time for another installment of the Smocking Stitches Guide. So far we have covered the cable, wave, trellis and flowerette stitches. We are now moving into some of the more advanced, or lesser known stitches. Don't let that intimidate you - little known doesn't mean harder! To prove that, today's tutorial is on the Cretan Stitch - one of my favorite stitches and one of the easiest! The Cretan Stitch is an embroidery stitch originally from the island of Crete where it is used

On my "to sew" list for some time has been the Akita pattern from Seamwork Magazine. Akita is a simple top pattern with just one pattern piece. I decided to have some fun and embellish my top with some graduated tucks. Tucks are simple to add, and just require a little basic math, and some planning ahead of time. Yes, math, I am sorry but there is no way around it! I added a total of six 1/4 inch tucks to the front and back of the top. (Since Akita is one pattern piece, what

So far in these smocking tutorials, I have covered the meat and potatoes of smocking. We have covered the cable, wave and trellis stitches. I would guess that 90% of all geometric smocking is done with those three stitches. Flowerettes are likewise a simple stitch - in fact they are made up of cable stitches. But with the Flowerettes, we are leaving the meat and potatoes behind and are starting to add some spice to our creation! There are two types of Flowerettes: single and