Floche is a wonderful cotton floss and is superb for smocking and embroidery and shadow work.  Floche is a luxury embroidery thread imported from France, made by DMC.  Softly twisted, this 5-ply cotton fiber is highly mercerized, giving it a lovely sheen.  You do not strip floche, and due to better coverage you use fewer threads in the needle.  For shadow work, because it spreads out on the wrong side of the fabric, it produces a stronger “shadow” on the right side. The bullion roses that are produced with floche  are superior to those with regular floss.  The plys untwist giving your bullions a look of many strands of fine floss with a beautiful sheen. Use 2 strands for geometric smocking, 3 strands for picture smocking and one for shadow work and embroidery.   The coverage is wonderful.