Smock

August – September 2012

A smock based on the The Tudor Tailor‘s draft. In 3.5oz linen from Fabric-Store. My version has only a few inches of ease added to the bust, so it’s narrower through the torso. The sleeves are widened. I also added a 1″ gap between the side gore and underarm gusset at the side seam. This was much simpler than dealing with the intersection of those seams. The side gores are cut as single triangles (rather than two triangles sewn together at the sides). Patterns of Fashion 4 shows smocks with all of these features.

When sewing rectangular pieces of linen, I pull threads to mark cut and sometimes fold lines. In this case the shoulder line is also marked. The smock is finished with 3/16″ flat felled seams throughout, the felling done to the inside by hand. I really like this method. The garment is wearable quickly, with the seams and hems done by hand, slowly, over time. The neckline is finished with an 1/8″ hem, and the cuffs and skirt hem are narrow as well.