Learning to Smock

My mother-in-law, Shannon, is going to teach me how to smock. We are starting with a bishop style dress for Harper. I wanted to document the process...the picture below is what the dress looks like before being pleated. The large piece of fabric in the center is the "front," the two short pieces on either side of the "front" are the "sleeves," and the two long end pieces are the "back." I was surprised by how wide the dress is before it's pleated. I'll post updates along the way...

This is the pattern.

this is the dress.

And this is what my girl was up to while I was taking these pictures of the dress....

Yep! An entire container of Aquaphor (like Vaseline) all over her body. Not surprisingly, her skin was soft and smooth the rest of the day:)