This post is the culmination of the basic pleating principles I have covered in the last three blog posts. The importance of understanding this post is to help you identify the different types of pleating used by others and how they incorporate pleating into their designs. Furthermore, if you are a fashion designer, it will help you to clearly communicate your ideas to pleating contractors such as ourselves. Now that you know the three basic components of pleating styles and panel shapes, let’s put them together and see what we come up with. Below we have a picture of the three basic pleats: Combining The Three Basic Pleating Styles with Panel Shapes If we apply each of these pleating styles to...
So, you had your skirt dry cleaned and something looks a little different… Eeeek! I wish I could say I don’t get this call often! So often, in fact, I’ve decided to write a little bit about the process of restoring open pleats touching a little bit on each of the most frequently asked questions to provide as much information as possible on what to do now. So before you give up on your pleated skirt, read through this post! Can you restore the damaged pleats in my garment? Well… anything is possible. For repairs, however, everything is going to be case by case. If you are local, it’s always best to schedule an appointment to come in and show us the piece. This...
For those of you who thought I might as well be speaking Chinese when I described what happens to the grain line in a sunburst pleated skirt – this one’s for you! As you know, there are three grains in a fabric and depending on the fabric, they can greatly effect your garment. The straight grain runs parallel to the selvedge, the cross grain runs across the width of your fabric, and the bias grain runs on the diagonal. There are several reasons why understanding fabric grains is important. Let’s begin with the bias grain. Depending on the fabric you are using, the fabric will stretch on the bias grain. This is why it is impossible to cut a circle skirt and get the hem straight on...
The curved straight panel is the final shape you need to understand regarding the pleating of fabric. This shape is sort of an amalgamation between the square panel and the half circle panel I discussed in this post. (See picture below.) I can imagine what you must be thinking…WHAT is he talking about???? Let me explain. If you take a square or rectangular panel and fold it slightly deeper (or more) along one side of the panel, the opposite side will begin to curve up. The curvature (C) of the pleated panel will increase the deeper the fold is on the top (A). As you look at this picture you might think, what’s the big...
In this post I will break down and distill the components of pleating to its basic building blocks. First, I want to preface this post by explaining that when I say pleating, I am referring to the “systematic folding” of fabric and not more organic methods like shibori or fabric crushing. After speaking with several clients, I’ve realized that I need to undercut the topics in these blog posts even more (before I can get more technical). I am still getting blank stares from people…I may be speaking but my communication is definitely not being received. Basically, there are three building blocks that make up the large majority of pleating styles you will encounter: accordion, box and side pleat. Accordion Pleats: Accordion pleats are easy to spot since...
