To smock, or not to smock

Workshop at Salthouse "Ad Limina" exhibition with Heather yesterday.  About smocks, in theory.  We were given a few ideas and some nice plain fabrics and thrown back into the water.  Nice morning working with Heather.  I suspect we scare teachers, having so much experience of teaching between us...

I made 3 samples.  The first,
where I started from the suggested "crayon rubbing" from a block was not working, so I made another.








This has tendencies to Treeness, I wonder why.  I also wonder why Blogger has rejected the image...

Then, because I found a couple of irresistable scraps in the threads box, I made a third piece with a spiral, as the smocks seem to have lots of spirals

So then I came back to the first piece and added more stitch, coming  in the process away from the traditional feather and chains, into herringbone.  Immediately much more corsety..

 I added more scrim and bundled it under more herringbone.. Much more satisfactory...

The Exhibition, on the whole was utterly unlikeable.. Slight work and nothing outside.. Such a pity