What you need for smocking
Light fabric and a grid.
- Lightweight fabric that gathers well: cotton or silk, often lawn or voile.
- A crewel embroidery needle and cotton or silk thread.
- A grid: quarter-inch gingham, a stripe, or iron-on dots.
- Strong thread, such as quilting cotton, for pleating.
- Embroidery floss for the smocking stitches.
Watch
UPDATED how to smock | all the stitches! (5:59)
By sarah classic sewing · Open on YouTube
Chosen from its title and channel: a 5-minute video from sarah classic sewing on the same topic as this guide. Embedded from YouTube with credit; we don't host it. It only loads when you press play.
All guides ›Smocking
Sources
All checked November 1, 2026. We read these; we did not test the products ourselves.