Carole Kent's passion for smocking is not so much about making a name for herself, more about keeping an age-old tradition alive. Philippa May finds out why.

YOU won't find one of Carole Kent's exquisitely smocked christening gowns in a shop, however specialised.

Nor will you discover them on the internet, ready to be clicked into a shopping cart.

Carole's passion is not for selling the intricately embroidered and beaded gowns she painstakingly makes by hand, nor is she especially keen on attracting a lot of attention to herself.

What she is passionate about, however, is the smocking itself. She is dedicated to using this often-forgotten skill to create works of art that will leave a fingerprint on history and ensure that she has played her part in the survival of an integral piece of Herefordshire's past.

"I want this craft to be kept alive, and I don't want it to be priced out of the market," she says.

In an earlier life, Carole, who lives a short walk from the city centre, was a hugely successful knitwear designer, creating intricate Fair Isle garments that sold in some of the world's most exclusive stores. But she soon found she had no taste for the fashion industry, discovering that the pressure to produce more and more at lower and lower cost to give retailers higher and higher margins was contrary to all that she had set out to do.

With Carole's eye for a craft in need of life support, it is, perhaps, unsurprising that, living in Herefordshire, she should have alighted on smocking, as the county has one of the largest collections of agricultural smocks in the country.

Last year, she was among exhibitors at Hereford Museum's exhibition, Smocks, Smocking, Smocked, and ran several workshops as part of her crusade to keep the skill alive. Visitors to the exhibition would have learned how smocks first appeared in the 19th century as protective garments for agricultural workers, the intricacy of the embroidery acting as a reference for a worker. At hiring fairs, it was clear to employers that those with the most elaborately smocked garments were the better workers as they commanded high enough wages to pay for the smocking.

Although the work Carole produces is a world away from the agricultural smocks which inspired her, the patterns she uses are not. She will often include the interlocked hearts that were typical of Herefordshire smocking.

"Each is a work of art," she says, explaining how she designs a christening gown. "I approach it like a painting. I am a perfectionist and if I make a mistake, however small and invisible to anyone else, I will unpick it."

Something of a magpie when it comes to acquiring the materials she needs, Carole is always poised to swoop on a fabric, a piece of lace or a card of antique buttons that she knows will be perfect.

She is jealously hoarding several faded blue cards, still with their original price stickers, around which are wound precious lengths of antique handmade French lace, while a bolt of silk brought back from her daughter's foreign travels waits to be transformed.

Carole's search for the perfect finishing touches has led her to a supplier of hand-made mother-of-pearl buttons who has made an exception to provide her with the small quantities she needs rather than the hundreds he is used to providing.

Every garment is different, a true heirloom in the making, with the name of the baby who will wear it first embroidered in the hem. "It's like writing a letter to the baby," she says. With matching bonnets and tiny hand-made silk shoes, babies wearing Carole Kent christening gowns are real show-stoppers.

It has even been known for a tiny pair of shoes to be bought simply as an object of beauty, reflecting Carole's assertion that every gown, every bonnet and every shoe is a work of art.

The parents who find Carole all have one thing in common. "They understand what I'm doing and, as they start their families, they really want their baby to be christened in a gown that will be passed on through the generations," she explains.

If you are interested in having a christening gown made or if you would like further information about smocking and stockists, contact Carole on 01432 351203. She would also be delighted to give talks to any needlework groups interested in learning more.