Welcome back to our discussion on smocking knits! So far we have discussed Sewing Knits: Just the Essentials, Smocking Knits: Testing the fabric, and Smocking Knits: Pleating knit jersey. Today we are moving on to the next step: choosing a smocking design. Knits have unique qualities - they stretch and recover. It is what makes them so comfortable to wear. But those same qualities provide a few challenges when it comes to smocking knits, and choosing an appropriate design. On a woven fabric, the floss that forms the stitches lies on the surface of the pleated fabric. The traditional view is that a well executed smocked design on woven fabric will hug the pleats without distorting them. Stitches that are next to each other will "kiss" and none of the underlying pleated fabric will show through.