The Completed Sampler

My mentor taught me the cable stitch, the baby wave, and the quarter wave first. A majority of smocking stitches are variations or combinations of the cable stitch and the quarter wave. I continued to learn the honeycomb stitch and the outline stitch. Once I learned these basics, my mentor taught me the more complex stitches. I completed the Van Dyke stitch and the floweret and leaflet motif. After catching every pleat with my embroidery thread, the rows of my sampler were completed. I had to back-smock the one empty row. Back-smocking is stitching the cable stitch on the back of the pleated fabric just to hold the pleats in place. It does not have a decorative purpose.