Our 3-hour workshop will cover different pleating and stitching techniques … whether you have plans to use small smocking details (such as on a sleeve, waistline or cuff), or maybe you’re plotting a more ambitious full-size smock, our workshop will give you all the history and methods you need to take the craft forwards into your sewing projects. ZTC conservator Hazel Arnott will be leading the workshop and we’ll be joined for a talk and Q&A session by guest speaker Alison Toplis (dress and textile historian and author of Hidden History of the Smock Frock: Deception & Disguise). You’ll also get the chance to look through historic smocking examples from the ZTC study collection, plus beautiful smocks from Royal Pavilions Museums Trust (aka Brighton Museum).
Price includes all the materials you’ll need for the workshop* as follows:
- 1 x ready pleated ramie fabric
- 4 x different coloured skeins of stranded cotton
- 1 x needle
- 1 x piece ramie fabric to practice pleating
- Hints & tips sheet
* Please note that there may be a small extra charge for p&p to non-UK addresses.
You’ll also need the following:
- Scissors
- Notepad & pen
Hazel Arnott (Royal School of Needlework, National Trust and long-term ZTC team member) will lead the workshop and we’ll be joined by guest speaker Alison Toplis (dress and textile historian and author of Hidden History of the Smock Frock: Deception & Disguise) for a 30-minute talk + Q&A session about the history and tradition of patchwork, followed by a delve into the ZTC study collection to look at some historic examples.
The workshop is designed to be a ‘sew-along’, with participants trying out different stitches on the ready-pleated fabric found in the kit. Although you’ll be working on this fabric as a time-saving measure we’ll also be showing you how to pleat, so you can use the extra fabric from the kit to practice your pleating after the workshop.
