Free Smocking Plate: Posy of Pansies

February 26th 2013

Even though February only has 28 days, sometimes it feels the longest. Still too cold to work outdoors but not quite cold enough for winter pursuits, the snow looks grungy, everybody’s got cabin fever and it feels like the warm weather will never come again. The one thing that always cheers me up are the [...]

Blank Smocking Graphs

January 8th 2013

I know I often offer free smocking plates for folks to enjoy and share.  But recently, a member on the Martha Pullen sewing forum asked where she might find blank smocking graphs so she could chart her own plates. When I offered to send her some via email, I didn’t expect to get a dozen [...]

Free Smocking Plate: On the Farm

August 17th 2012

It’s that time of year – the summer is winding down, the evenings are cooler and thoughts are turning to fall and the start of a new school year. For me, fall is also the time when we take in our local fair.  It’s an annual tradition for us – the boys, big and small, [...]

Free Smocking Plate: Pirate Adventures

May 6th 2012

Poor boys.  They never get their fair share of the creativity, do they?  Girls get the dresses and the ribbons and all the pretties.  Boys end up with the snips and snails. But since it’s been ages since I posted a freebie here on the blog, I thought folks with little boys would enjoy this [...]

Free Smocking Plate: Holiday Nutcracker

November 16th 2011

Boy smocking is always a challenge, especially when it comes to the holidays. The rules are as follows: nothing too ‘old fashioned’ ; nothing too ‘cutesy’ ; nothing too ‘fey’. Hopefully, this nutcracker soldier offers you a way to incorporate smocking into your holiday sewing without sentencing your little one to years of intensive therapy [...]