Khadi Picnic
KHADI PICNIC WITH FAUX SMOCKING
Its Asmita who inspired me to pick some khadi fabric when she made some lovely moon pants for her daughter. So on a trip into the city 2 months back, i picked some khadi fabric, the thinner variety, which is almost like voile. I made two blouses for H, inspite of my reservations… she loves both, you can see the Khadi Ayashe here. I am looking forward to see them after a couple of washes when they have really softened.
After the wearable muslin for Ms H, I realised that she can still wear a size 4 with added length for both body and sleeves. while i am there i also added quite a bit of width to the blouse. I think this changed the whole look, while the original is more tailored, this version is more relaxed.
If you look closely the stripes do go in different directions for both body and sleeves, which i didn’t realise until after i finished the blouse. They don’t seem to bother anyone except me.
Pattern: Picnic Blouse by Oliver+S
Size: 4T with modifications
Fabric: Khadi voile from Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan
Notes:
Added length and width to the body (don’t remember the numbers now).
Hemmed the sleeves by turning in 1/2″ twice as i forgot to add length.
All hemming is by hand as the fabric seems to hang better this way.
And about that tiny bit of faux smocking in the front and back….. After the entire blouse is finished and as i was taking out my gathering stitches, i thought the blouse would have looked nice with some smocking and may be i should do that next time. But that little thought was there and the more i looked at the blouse, the more it bothered me… so i added couple of rows of smocking stitches and put that thought to rest 🙂 The fact that it is a checked fabric made the embroidery easy.
Here are some more pictures of Ms H wearing it.
Whats Happening @ The Verandah 
It looks wonderful with the smocking! I find it interesting how this techniques is named slightly differently in other places. This pattern is perfect for the geometric smocking design that you have chosen.
Thank you Tamara. It is smocking version of chevron stitch, i would love to know other names this technique goes by.
How can I make this in a women’s size? Can I enlarge the pattern?
This is a children’s pattern that only goes till size 12. There is simplicity pattern 1879 of Lisette which is similar(same designer for both children and adult pattern). While it is out of print now… you can find one on eBay.
It is lovely, my favourite kind of smocking
Thank you Nicole. Each line took around 10 mins so it was fast too.
Congratulations on being featured on the O&S blog !
Thank you Deepa. I was on cloud 9 for sometime 🙂
It’s sad that I haven’t visited earlier and taken a look at this lovely blouse before. The smocking looks absolutely wonderful. The fact that it’s on a checked fabric makes it even better in my mind. I love checks:-), but sadly I am the only one around here.