It's Smocking, Not Smoking

“If you hit smocking in the computer, it thinks you misprinted it and it will send you to smoking,” Benedetta Colletti said. 

Colletti, an Avon resident and mother of six, strives to preserve and foster the art of smocking and related needlework with The Mountain Laurel Stitchers, a chapter of the Smocking Guild of America (SAGA). 

“Smocking is…pre-pleating the fabric and then doing embroidery on top of it and that’s how smocking is different from another form of embroidery,” Colletti said.

To spread the word about this embroidery technique, Colletti held a demonstration at the Avon Senior Center on June 16, showing participants how to do basic stitches and providing information about her SAGA chapter, which meets on a monthly basis in Newington.

“I just wanted to get the word out that if you’re interested, you can pursue it,” Colletti told Patch. “It’s just a yard of fabric and maybe an hour or two of your time [that] makes a very personal and unique gift that’s creative, that’s your own.” 

The avid smocker brought numerous dresses, including some of the dresses she’s made for her daughters over the years. Each garment has its own unique design.

Although smocking is typically associated with old-fashioned gowns, the technique can be used with virtually any article of clothing.

“It could be a knit cap or a pre-purchased sweater that has ribbing on it that you don’t even have to pleat. You can just do the stitches on it and make it your own,” Colletti said.

Some of Colletti’s dresses looked like they were made for dolls, but were actually made for pre-mature babies at UConn Hospital. The Mountain Laurel Stitchers create the miniature gowns for their community service project.

Avon resident Alice Zacchera came to the demonstration at the senior center to learn something she could do while at home. She did smocking many years ago and wanted to relearn the technique. 

“I wanted something to do… I’m at home most of the time because my husband passed away and I’m alone,” Zacchera said.

Colletti has been sewing since she was a young girl, but didn’t start smocking until she was pregnant with her first daughter. 

“I remember as a child having smock dresses and loving them, but not finding them in the stores… When I was…pregnant with my girl I was at a book store and I discovered Sew Beautiful Magazine,” Colletti said.

Over the years, the self-taught smocker has learned that not all regions are the same when it comes to smocking.

“In the South it’s very big, a lot of lace, a lot of pouf…where I’m finding in the Northeast it’s much more toned down,” Colletti said. 

Colletti hopes to teach a class at the center in the near future.

“I think that the desire for creativity and making something that’s unique and personal and your own is within everybody. And one way to do that is to sew your own item,” Colletti said.

The Mountain Laurel Stitchers meet on the third Monday of each month (except July and August), beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Joann’s Fabrics in Newington. For more information, please visit www.smocking.org or contact Susan Misluk, president, at susanmisluk@sbcglobal.net or by phone at 860-583-6507.