Tips and Tricks: Creating Perfect Pleats

Thursday, July 27, 2017


Today, I am posting a quick tutorial for three different styles of pleats. There are a variety of ways to tackle pleats, but this pleat tutorial shows the methods that are featured in several Modkid patterns. I'll link a few patterns at the end of each tutorial. 

Pintucks:


Pintucks are a fun way to add texture to your fabric. Start by marking your fabric were you want the pintucks. Pintucks may be dictated by a pattern, or you may sew pintucks in place on a block of fabric and cut your pattern piece for your own design. It is important to mark nice, straight lines.


Fold and press the fabric wrong sides together along the first mark. Stitch close to the folded edge of fabric, 1/8" at a maximum.


Repeat folding wrong sides together, pressing, and stitching for each mark.


Press the pintucks to one side. Your piece is ready to be sewn into a garment or cut down into a pattern piece. Pintucks are featured in the following patterns:







 Pleats:


This method of sewing pleats is acutally almost identical to pintucks. Again, mark your pleats in nice straight lines. These will fall farther apart than pintucks since they take up more fabric.


Fold and press the fabric wrong sides together along the marked line. Determine the depth of pleat you desire and stitch that distance from the edge. In this case 1/2". 


Repeat folding wrong sides together, pressing, and stitching for each mark. Finally, press the pleats to one side. For pleats without the stitch line simply baste the pleats in place along the side edges. Finally, press the pleats to one side. Great pleat patterns include:





Inverted Box Pleat:


Box pleats are essentially two pleats sewn back to back. You will need 3 marks equal distances apart.


Press the fabric wrong sides together along the right outside mark.


Bring the folded edge to the center mark and press.


Here's what that looks like from the top side.


Repeat folding the wrong sides together and press for the left outside mark. Bring that folded edge in to the center mark and press.


This is now the top view.


Baste across the top edge to secure the pleat in place. Done! You can find inverted box pleats in the following patterns:






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