<P> Smocking is an embroidery technique used to gather fabric so that it can stretch . Before elastic, smocking was commonly used in cuffs, bodices, and necklines in garments where buttons were undesirable . Smocking developed in England and has been practised since the Middle Ages and is unusual among embroidery methods in that it was often worn by laborers . Other major embroidery styles are purely decorative and represented status symbols . Smocking was practical for garments to be both form fitting and flexible, hence its name derives from smock--a farmer's work shirt . Smocking was used most extensively in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries . </P> <P> Smocking requires lightweight fabric with a stable weave that gathers well . Cotton and silk are typical fiber choices, often in lawn or voile . Smocking is worked on a crewel embroidery needle in cotton or silk thread and normally requires three times the width of initial material as the finished item will have . Historically, smocking was also worked in piqué, crepe de Chine, and cashmere . According to Good Housekeeping: The Illustrated Book of Needlecrafts, "Any type of fabric can be smocked if it is supple enough to be gathered ." </P>

Where would you see an ornamental pattern known as smocking
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