Up next: smocking

~ Liz A

Something new for me, but hey, why not? Striped linen from Burnley and Trowbridge and a Folkwear pattern that I bought a year or so ago …

inspired by this photo in Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern …

So I’ve started to try my hand at smocking …

And while I was at the library double checking the source of the GOK photo, I checked out Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy … a book I somehow managed not to read back in the 1980s … and was struck by how much these two descriptions of President Zaphod Beeblebrox reminded me of Trump (click to enlarge images) …

Last for now, the grandkids have been out and about with their parents (who don’t show up here very often), all of them thankfully far away from the insane heat that is Texas …

So long June … hello July …

18 thoughts on “Up next: smocking”

  1. Aw, I love the smocking! A fellow preschool mom offered to teach me years ago, but I was not interested at the time and then it never happened. She smocked ALL of her daughters dresses 🙂
    Summer is the season for children, yes?!!

    Like

    Reply

    1. my mom’s mom smocked dresses for my tiny self 60+ years ago … sadly, they weren’t saved … I can’t say that I’m tempted to do children’s clothes for the simple reason that they are outgrown so quickly, but I’m hoping the smock I make for myself is a lifer

      and yes, I love how kids can live in the water, whatever form it takes

      Like

      Reply

  2. Oh yes Zaphod Beeblebrox/Hitchhikers…
    I remember listening to it on public radio way back when!!
    (& Yes, parallels! 😜)
    Love the smocking inspired by Georgia🩷
    Happy family yay!

    Like

    Reply

  3. Hitchhikers guide is one that I’ve missed too. Someday! 🙂 Smocking is looking good. I am thinking about ruffles this weekend, tiny ones.

    Like

    Reply

  4. I am glad the young ones are missing your heatwaves – they sound extremely daunting – but oh my summertime is made for kids… I recall smocking at high school but never went back; I really like the interplay of the stripe with the thread on the left. And that quote was terrific! Go well, and stay cool.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I’m glad to say temps have moderated a bit, now in the 90s … sadly, American politics haven’t moderated one whit … I’m a bit stalled on the smocking, but maybe another sample or two will get me over the hurdle of tackling the actual project

      Like

      Reply

  5. Smocking – good for you. I admire how you continue to seek out these techniques and execute them so well!
    The family photos are sweet
    Love and Blessings to you both

    Like

    Reply

  6. I missed that classic too somehow. Very similar indeed. I can’t stand when people refer to trump as having wily smarts. Ugh. He’s a lucky bombast who had a ready audience of haters, is all. Your smocking is beautiful, as I knew it would be! My mother smocked on my sister’s and my dresses too.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I just don’t get the hate-fullness, even as I realize it’s always been a part of human nature … somehow amplified by the American ethos

      Fear is at the root of it all, though … and I don’t know how we’re ever going to rectify that flaw

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. My mother did smocking but it’s something I’ve never tried. Your sample is lovely. People gnawing off their own legs in response to Vogon poetry is probably my favourite bit of HG…

    Like

    Reply

  8. Beautiful start, and really looking forward to seeing your finished smocked frock. Folkwear patterns take me back to sewing days with a long-gone friend, and to finding scraps of smocking practice when Mom was practicing for the making my wedding dress.

    Like

    Reply

  9. have read it and am afraid I’ve forgotten most of it…..do seem te recall enjoying the read, wonder what you make of it
    smocking like this rocks [ anything worn by Georgia does ] so looking forward to seeing you in yours !!
    oh and all those smiles, making me smile, thanks for that

    p.s. experiencing our own little heat wave here with temperatures in their 30ies Celsius = 80ies-plus Fahrenheit, so quite a lot of swimming with the dogs in nearby river

    Like

    Reply

    1. I have a habit of completely inhabiting and then totally forgetting the details in novels … all that remains is a sense of whether I enjoyed the ride or not … ha!

      And yes, anything to do with Georgia O’Keeffe tends to make me smile … I loved knowing she and her family lived in Williamsburg for a time when we lived there for 30 years, although their house was a patently ugly concrete block construction

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment