Making a smocked dress: tips and tricks

Hello, fellow needleworker. Today, I would like to share with you a smocked dress I made for a customer. I wore a smocked dress to deliver an order to her sister, she saw the dress and liked it and asked me to make a similar one for her.
Although I don't like sewing anything that requires smocking. I accepted her request because you should never turn down new customers.

One reason I don't like making smocked dresses is that it is very time-consuming and requires a lot of patience. To avoid frustration when making a smocked dress, I use a few helpful tips.
First, make sure the elastic thread you are using is of high quality. Also, I slightly lose the tension of the shuttle that holds the bobbin. This helps to prevent the elastic thread from breaking.

Let me take you through the process.

material used: 2 yards of Ankara fabric, elastic thread, and a normal sewing thread

I start by cutting out the fabric for both the Front and the back pieces of the dress.

Then I mark half an inch throughout the sides and centre of both the front and back pieces. This will help to have straight stitches when smocking.

I used a normal sewing thread in the needle and the elastic thread in the bobbin.

I make sure the shuttle is not too tight. I test out the stitches on a scrap fabric first before sewing the main fabric. I sew horizontal stitches half an inch apart throughout on the right side of the fabric.

This was the most time-consuming part. Since the bobbins are always small, I had to refill them from time to time.

Also, I check the seams as I sew just to make sure they are neat and consistent.

After fully smocking the front and back pieces, I joined them together.

But before I do that, I tighten the shuttle back to its original tightness because I'm not going to be using the elastic thread for the joinings.

I joined the shoulders and sides.

After I carefully hemmed the neckline, armholes and the bottom of the dress,

This is the final look on her. I was happy to see how it was beautifully styled by my customer.

This is the original style. I think she styled it nicely.