Smocked apron finished

Finally, I've finished my smocked apron:-). I've already worn it during the Medieval Week in Visby, but I haven't got pictures of me wearing it. Sometimes, this type of events goes by in a whirlwind... (But then sometimes other people do have the pictures you need! Isis inserted some here)



Here are some final technical details and "do's and don'ts":

• The embroidered part of the apron measures 55 * 5 cm. I used about 180 cm of fabric and made pleats of 0.5 cm deep. I found it quite difficult to make small pleats over such a length of fabric. It took me about 6 hours to make the pleats, and I used diaper pins to secure the pleats as I went along. I took them out again when I started the embroidery:

• In previous posts, I wrote about using pencil. I've learned the hard way that you should always test whether pencil lines come out in the wash. The pencil I used this time didn't. I had to use some quite aggressive soap, but you can still see lines and dots when you take a closer look at the embroidery... aargghh

• I used this embroidery chart:

Image via Christina

• I started with a line of honeycomb stitches, and this looks a little wobbly. I couldn't quite manage to make a straight line. Next time (?), I think I will follow this chart and start with a horizontal row of stem stitches. This may help set the pleats, which probably makes it easier to do the honeycomb stitches next.

And this is what my apron looks like:




For more links to tutorials and background info, see my previous posts here.