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More pleating techniques

BY SHAPESOFFABRIC - 2 5 / 0 3 / 2 0 1 8

So, as promised, here’s another post on pleats. They are so versatile that I wanted to
introduce a couple of other variations: the pleated stripes and pleats across pleats.
Because why make things too simple, right? Both techniques are easier if you already read
the rst post http://www.theshapesoffabric.com/2018/03/17/speaking-of-pleats/

Pleated stripes

This is a prime example of my bad habit of shattering one pattern piece into several
smaller pieces.

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The skirt represents this technique, but the main piece will be a bodice, as it’s a bit easier.

So, take your basic bodice pattern and divide it in two, absorbing the dart(s).

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After separating the two pieces, draw lines where you want the pleats to be. These will
also be stripes, so decide how wide you want them. Number each, and add the color-
codes. To get stripes, this piece is made with two different colors of fabric, in my case
black (B) and white (W).

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Now you can add pleats normally, following the procedure I wrote about last time. Don’t
forget to add seam-allowances. The upper part doesn’t have a seam at the centre front,
the lower part does.

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Time to separate the pleats! I colored them in blue. Basically, you’ll divide them in the
middle, at the base of each pleat, so the area remains hidden in the nal garment. Don’t
add any seam-allowances, as you’d end up with overlapping layers of fabric.

The pattern-pieces are ready.

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First sew all the separated pieces together again.

Press the pleats and x them in place by stitching around all the edges.

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Sew everything together.

Here’s the nal piece. As you can see, it looks like a stripy bodice. It’s just that each stripe
is pleated.

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Uneven pleats

Sometimes you might want to add uneven pleats. I did so in the previous piece. It’s just a
bit different from normal/straight pleats. You can’t add them in 90 degree angle, because
the pleat is slanted.

Instead, do like this:

Copy the rst section as usual, but then just draw a line, without caring about the 90
degrees. In my example the pleat will be 2 cm wide on the left side and 4 cm on the right.

Fold the pleat right away, adding marks where the rst section ends.

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Now you know where to copy the following section. The rest is done the same as with
normal pleats.

Pleats across pleats

To have an idea what I’m talking about, you might remember this pleated bodice-back I
posted on Instagram several months ago.

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Preparing a pattern to this kind of pleats is not so dif cult. You just have to do it in two
phases. First one direction, and then the other.

The more dif cult part is pressing all the folds!

I thought it would be fun to actually create something while doing a little exercise. This is
a bit different from what I usually do, but I hope you’ll like it: a pincushion! It doesn’t take
much fabric. Just choose something that’s easy to press, and not too tightly woven.

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The pattern

This will result in a 10 cm x 10 cm pincushion. You can use different measurements if you
want. The technique is the same. First draw the nal design; how you want the pleats to
be placed.

Start copying in the rst direction. I added 4 cm between each section to get 2 cm pleats.
Trace also the lines of the remaining pleats.

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Take another paper and copy from the previous one, adding the pleats in the other
direction. Add also seam-allowances around and mark the starting and ending points of all
the pleats.

This is the nal pattern. Edit: You can now download the pattern as a pdf from the
sidebar!

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Sewing

Cut one piece of fabric with your pattern, clipping all the pleat-marks. You’ll also need a
base, which has the size of your nal pincushion+seam allowances. And another piece of
the same size, that’ll become the backside.

To start, press the pleats, rst in one direction, and then in the other.

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To x the pleats in place, stitch all around the piece. I also recommend adding some hand-
stitches on the wrong side. Finally, attach the base.

Now the front piece of the pincushion is ready and you can attach the back piece to it,
right sides together. Leave an opening so you can turn the right side out. Trim the
corners.

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Turn the right side out and press.

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Fill your pincushion and close the opening with tiny hand stitches.

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Your pleated pincushion is now ready and hopefully you have a better understanding on
pleats across pleats!

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This seems like something that could be found on Pinterest, so I’ll download the whole
tutorial there, conveniently in one picture! -In case you want a summary.

Let me know if you think this was useful and you’d like me to prepare some other similar
exercises in the future!

606
Shares

PAT T E R N M A K I N G PINCUSHION P L E AT S S E W I N G P ROJ E CT

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AUTHOR

shapesoffabric

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5 COMMENTS

Meka  R E P LY

1 YEAR AGO

Very helpful. Thanks

shapesoffabric Post Author  R E P LY

1 YEAR AGO

Awesome! 🙂

Ifunanya  R E P LY

4 MONTHS AGO

This is so helpful

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Suneetha gr  R E P LY
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5 MONTHS AGO

Hi, very well explained, I will try this as I like it very much, thank you for sharing

shapesoffabric Post Author  R E P LY

5 MONTHS AGO

You’re welcome! Happy pleating! 🙂

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