Smocking is an embroidery technique that is used on garments made in the fashion industry to gather fabric into tightly pleated folds on garments, allowing the fabric to still stretch while adding decorative, textured patterns. Smocking stitches often used neutral coloured thread but coloured thread could be used depending on the fabric and the colour. The stitches that are used are few and simple. Allowing it to be an easy thing to learn and then apply onto a fabric piece.

The use of smocking is a very important technique required for a lot of fabrics as it allows non stretchy fabrics to stretch while maintaining comfort There are several types of smocking stitches

There is the cable stitch which is a foundational embroidery t5chenique that is both stylish and decorative. The technique creates twisted and horizontal cord-like lines across a piece of fabric.

The us of a cable creates a structures and neat design that is incredibly versatile and it is also used to often form the basis of geometric patterns on garments due to the structure they provide. Cable stitches can also be used for creating images like flowers or animals on garments.