Thousands of tiny stitches later, it’s the 30th anniversary of the Ottawa Smockers Guild

By Louise Rachlis

Smocking, a sewing technique to create decorative embroidery over pleats, dates back to the 15^th century.

The technique is still popular today, and the Ottawa Smockers Guild has attracted several hundred enthusiastic members over its 30-year history.

Knowing how to smock is not a prerequisite to join the Ottawa Smockers Guild.  “The Guild welcomes anyone with an interest in needlework, and smocking can be easily learned with the assistance of current members,” said Guild president Jean Bye.

The Ottawa Smockers Guild was founded in 1985 by Marg Slade, an avid self-taught smocker. Two founding members, Val Rochester and Jackie Comerton, continue to be active participants.

 To celebrate the Guild’s 30^th anniversary, the symbols of which are pearls and the colour green, members have been asked to submit a smocked project which incorporates both.  The projects will be entered into a draw for the Marg Slade award, a yearly prize in memory of the Smockers Guild founder.

In the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries smocking was used on traditional loose-fitting blouses called smocks which were worn mainly by agricultural workers.  Today, smocking remains a popular form of embroidery on garments and many types of accessories - from wedding garters and coat hangers to slippers and Christmas ornaments.

Monthly meetings include an education component on smocking or related techniques, and the Guild has an extensive lending library of patterns, books and a pleater. Members with no interest in smocking a garment can put their creative skills to work in helping with service projects. 

The Guild’s primary service project is providing smocked gowns for use in the neo-natal bereavement programs at Ottawa hospitals.  Guild members participate in a yearly one-day workshop to prepare the gowns for smocking by members throughout the year, and since the program began 20 years ago, over 3,000 gowns have been distributed.

“The hospitals have told us that families are very appreciative that someone has taken the time to make a beautiful little gown to acknowledge their child,” said Jean Bye. “Guild members find great satisfaction in making them, knowing they are helping families at a very difficult time.”

The Guild also collects toiletries throughout the year, and makes smocked-top slippers that are given each Christmas to Chrysalis House, an emergency shelter for women and children.

Other projects throughout the years have included donating smocked bibs and bonnets for sale in a hospital gift shop; providing ready-to-smock fabric and bonnets to Mireille Roy of Ottawa to assist her in teaching needlework to women in Haiti to help them learn a trade, and in 1989, decorating an 18-foot Christmas tree for the Museum of Nature with 275 smocked ornaments.

 The following year the decorations were donated to 12 charities to be used or sold according to their needs.

Monthly meetings of the Smockers Guild are held at McNabb Community Centre, 180 Percy Street at 7:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month from September to June.

 The Guild extends a special welcome to former members to join them at the regular meeting on June 4^th to celebrate the group’s 30^th anniversary.

For more information, please view www.ottawasmockers.org.