Poised Pleats

As we move closer to understanding garments in a detailed fashion, next in line we have pleats. Pleats can be described as folds or doubles of a fabric, that is neatly pressed and ironed into place. Sometimes not ironing or pressing the pleats into place gives a more fluid look, which is also a type of pleat. Pleats are most commonly found in skirts. The tennis skirt trend which grew extremely popular a while back , also makes use of one of the pleats! There are a variety of pleats from accordion to circular to even French pleats.

With all that being said the knife or side pleats and the box pleats are the most commonly used pleats in garments. Pleats tend to create volume in garments because the fabric is gathered and folded, so depending the look of the garment one can chooses their type of pleats. Pleats use a LOT more fabric so be careful to stick to fabric requirements!

Types of pleats:

Knife pleats

These pleats are called side pleats or even fan pleats. To achieve these pleats the fabric is tightly folded by lifting up narrow sections of the fabric and creased into place. They are evenly folded pleats, all towards one direction. These pleats give a fuller look.

This board helps to understand how a knife pleat can be made. It is very easy to achieve these pleats. But remember to sew in once pleats are creased so it stays in place.

Process

Final pleats

Here is a picture of knife pleats I made using the muslin fabric. The fabric was pressed tightly and ironed to hold it in place. Using a machine the top was hemmed so the pleats don't come out. I have also juxtaposed the pleats on a human figure.

Box pleats

These pleats are also commonly found in skirts and add volume at the waistline. A box pleat is achieved by folding two lengths of fabric away from each other in opposite directions, meeting them in the middle of the backside of the fold.

This board helps to understand how a box pleat can be made.

Here is a picture of box pleats I made using the muslin fabric and the same pictures are roughly arranged on a human figure to see how interestingly pleats can be put into use

Series of folds creased to the left and right and you have got yourself pleats which are quite tight! Experiment more with the different pleats and you never know when those might come in handy. Pleats can be so simple to achieve but it adds a certain vigour to the garment and that is why learning them are important and hey! knowing how to make basic knife and box pleats are enough to make your own skirt! How cool is that now. Follow along for more sewing related posts, until then

Diksha

(a.k.a the fashion student you live vicariously through:))

.

.

.

References

1. Types of Pleats - 6 Main Types with Pictures (2022). Available at: https://blog.treasurie.com/types-of-pleats/ (Accessed: 6 June 2022).

2. Sewing Glossary: How To Sew Knife Pleats Tutorial - the thread (2018). Available at: https://blog.fabrics-store.com/2018/05/22/sewing-glossary-how-to-sew-knife-pleats-tutorial/ (Accessed: 6 June 2022).

3. Sewing Glossary: How To Sew Box Pleats Tutorial - the thread (2018). Available at: https://blog.fabrics-store.com/2018/06/05/sewing-glossary-how-to-sew-box-pleats-tutorial/ (Accessed: 6 June 2022).