Rock the Smock

I feel like there will be massive amounts of judgement of me after this next post considering the majority of the people that are going to read this know me well enough to know that I do not have children. However I want children, I have always wanted children and when the day comes for me to have them I want to be as prepared as possible. Therefore I look at it in the same way those lunatics on the show Doomsday Preppers. If you prepare now you have a smaller chance of being caught off guard. So keep this concept in mind as I admit to you and show you the massive collection of children's clothes that I have. 

Smocked, Smocking: The phenomenon that has adorned the chests of children in the south for a very long time is actually a lot older and a lot more useful than we originally thought. You see I grew up in smocked outfits, hair bows and gingham everything therefore I have a small obsession with these little gems. But after doing a little research I now have a larger appreciation for smocking and where it actually came from. Trust me I will get to how this applicable to thrift stores shortly however let's take a dive into what I will call "Uselessly Useful Information." I mean honestly you never really know if you will be at trivia and some random question about smocking is asked; just in case...you're welcome.

Smocking originated in the 13th and 14th century in England, there are other sources that claim it is older but for time purposes let's go with this estimate. Smocking served many purposes then, as opposed to now where it is just nice looking clothes. These outfits were practical pieces of clothing that were worn by farm workers, mostly men and children and other "working class" individuals..oh the irony. The smock consisted of linen fabric which was gathered into pleats and then the pleats were secured with embroidery stitches. They were only smocked on the yoke and sleeves and the stitching indicated the area from where the smock originated, and the embroidered designs also depicted the wearers' occupation e.g. farmers would have decorative elements depicting the land, shepherds would have crooks and sheep, while the gravediggers would have crosses. The smocked part of the garment protected the worker from the elements such as extreme temperatures and wind because the area that was smocked was thicker than the linen that made up the rest of the garment. Of course the two World Wars did nothing for smocking considering the availability of cheap mass produced adult clothing took over from the labor-intensive hand smocked clothing, particularly in women's clothing. However children's clothing continued to be smocked and still does today.

So there is the history in short of the tradition that is the smocking. So as you sit there and ponder "what can I possibly talk about at the next Kelly's Kids home showing?", maybe now with a bit more information you and the other southern belles will have something new to discuss.

Terms to remember for this post: Smocked, Jon-Jon, Bubble, Shortall and Longall.

Smocked: We have clearly covered this.

Jon-Jon: The picture in the top right corner, that's a Jon-Jon and a shortall...However Jon-Jon's are only for boys, whereas there are some shortall's made for girls.

Bubble: the picture to the left is a bubble.It sort of bubbles up around the top of the legs...hints the name: Bubble.

Longall: a smocked version of overalls, therefore making overalls socially acceptable. 

How in the world is this related to thrift stores. Well you see children grow, I know, what? children grow? yes indeed children grow faster than the unemployment rate and families are having less children nowadays than 20 years ago due to many reasons not related to this blog, which directly means the use of hand-me-downs is being less and less utilized today then when I was a child. Even though children grow, parents, specifically southern parents still want their child to be precious and dressed well and in the south that means Rock the Smock.  Now if you live in the upstate you have probably heard of the Grey Goose, which is a children's clothing boutique that specializes in smocked clothing for boys and girls and specialty gifts. The Grey Goose is one of those places that I like to call divorce creators. With that I mean if you go there and shop and purchase more than 5 things and you are of the working class you my friend will find yourself in court quicker than your kids will outgrow that adorable outfit that they had to have. So the empirical question where do I get these adorable outfits for little Suzie without spending a ton of money?

I am glad you asked that question. Allow me to answer it for you by showing you just how wonderful your local thrift store can be. So the average price of a new, never worn before smocked dress for a little girl is between $50 and $85 more or less depending; here is a dress that I found at Goodwill: You see this cute little get up is green with an Old McDonald (sans farm) smocking around the neckline. It is a size 2T and is precious; I paid $2.25 making the difference around $63 based on the average of the prices. 

You see smocked dresses are wonderful for many reasons. They are easy to put children in, they are  appropriate for church, school, play dates, birthday parties etc. Not to mention the fact that they are timeless; I completely intend on my children (if the good lord gives me daughters) wearing my smocked dresses that my mom saved from when I was little. They are like Honda's...they hold their value. 

Hera are a few of the other deals I have scored at various thrift stores:

  Boys Longall with Elephant and Lion detailing.

Raggedy Anne and Andy Longall without sleeves: the ones without sleeves are great too because they can be worn with nothing underneath or with a short/long sleeved shirt in the color of your choice!

Seersucker (no sleeves) Boys Bubble with Elephant, Palm Tree and Giraffe Smocking

As you can see by the pictures finding nice, gently used smocked clothing at thrift stores is completely possible. Had I purchased all of these (just these mind you, I have tons more..) I would have easily spent well over $300.00. Which in case you wanted to know my opinion I think is a ridiculous amount of money to begin with, let alone put a kid in something that was that expensive. 

I plan on giving you all an inside scoop every time I write on this blog about thrift store knowledge, or a great deal that I came across recently. So today's little piece of information is also correcting a common myth amongst thrift stores: I only go to thrift stores that are on "rich sides of town" because they have the nicest items." Okay, so I thought this for a while and rightfully so it makes perfect sense. However, Goodwill has those large semi trucks you see from time to time...if a particular store has a lot of items or too much in one particular store they put the crap on a truck and take it to another location that may not have as much stuff donated directly to that store. So it does matter a little while store you go to...say for example you live in Greenville, by all means hit up the Woodruff Road one before you go to...the Poinsett Highway one (which by the way does not sell clothes, it sells crap) and then work your way back from there. Areas with high volumes of neighborhoods will have the best selection as far as kids clothes are concerned.

So if you have children who typically wear smocked clothing, bravo. You have some adorable children and probably 50 photo albums full of pictures with them wearing these little investments, which I agree with...document their life because one day when they are looking back on their life they will see those pictures and then be able to appreciate just how precious they used to be. So I will leave you with the evidence of the little smocked, hair bowed southern belle I was when I was little. Please enjoy these little pictures as they are the truest form of who I was, which has lead me to be what I claim to be today. Yes this little gem to your left is me, in my little smocked dress. And the one to the right is more of an applique outfit but I had to show the bow. Thanks for reading!