What are Pleats in Garments?
A pleat is an unstitched, folded dart held securely along the joining seamline. It is developed as a dart on the pattern but does not include punch hole and circle for dart point. Dart legs are notched. Pleats are provided at the waistline of dresses and especially in skirts with the intention of evenly distributing the fullness around the entire area of the fabric. The construction of pleats is like tucks, but the pleats are wider than tucks. In garments, the box pleats, knife pleats or inverted pleats are commonly used. The pleat design can be varied to control the garment fullness. These can be pressed or unpressed, soft or crisp.
A pleat is a fold or series of folds in fabric. Pleats are most commonly found in skirts where the pleats are made to fit around the waist and hip and then left to fall in crisply pressed folds, giving fullness at the hemline. It is important that pleats are made accurately, otherwise they will not fit the body and will look uneven. Foldlines and placement lines, or foldlines and crease lines, are marked on the fabric from the pattern. It is by using a combination of these lines and the spaces between them that the pleats are made.
Different Types of Pleats for Dresses:
There are different types of pleats for dresses and, for the most part, they are drafted the same way. If pleats are formed on stylelines or insertion lines, they will behave the best if the lines are placed on the length grain or cross grain. They become unstable and unstructured when placed off-grain.
Depending on your fabric and construction, pleats can take on many different appearances. An unpressed pleat will add soft volume that billows slightly at the hem, whereas a fabric with crisply pressed or edge stitched pleats will be much more angular and geometric in appearance. Be sure to test your fabric to find out what will work best, because your fabric will often tell you. If the fabric doesn’t hold a press well, it is best not to fight it. A fabric that loves to be pressed will hold crisp pleats longer.
The differences in pleat types come from the way the fabric is folded and how much pleat volume is inserted into your pattern.
Different types of pleats for dresses are described below:
a) Knife Pleat:
Knife pleats can be used as an alternative for gathers. These pleats generally have a width of about 1/2–2″ and are turned towards the same direction. Figure 2 illustrates a skirt with knife pleats.
b) Box Pleats:
A box pleat is formed when two consecutive knife pleats are folded in opposite directions – one to the left and one to the right. This is used in frocks and skirt waistline. A skirt with box pleats is shown in Figure 3.
c) Inverted Pleat:
Inverted pleats can be obtained by reversing the box pleat. An inverted pleat is made while two knife pleats are twisted nearer to each other in a manner that the folds meet in the center on the face side of the garment. These kinds of pleats are utilized commonly in uniforms and skirts. Figure 4 shows an inverted pleat skirt.
d) Accordion Pleat:
Accordion pleats ( Figure 5) are a series of very narrow and straight pleats of equal width. These folds have a striking resemblance to the bellows of an accordion, hence the name. The width of the pleats ranges from 3 to 13 mm. These pleats are close to each other and have a uniform depth from the waist to hem.
e) Sunray Pleat:
Sunray pleats (Figure 6), originating from the waist and gradually spread out. These pleats are capable of being set in synthetic fabrics or blends with a higher proportion of synthetic fibers (over 50%) in order to sustain the pleats. Circular skirts and wedding dresses make use of sunray pleats.
f) Kick Pleat:
Any of the above discussed pleats like knife pleat, box pleat or inverted box pleat could be used to construct kick pleats in skirts. After pleating, a top stitch is made near the fold and extended to the desired length (should not be made until the hem edge) and then decorated as required. Kick pleats are usually made in pencil skirts. Figure 7 illustrates a kick pleat skirt.
g) Cartridge Pleat:
Cartridge pleats (Figure 8) are basically round pleats utilized in door and window curtains. These pleats are used for curtains as they provide good drape and fullness. Fabrics with a firm and heavy construction are well suited for cartridge pleats.
h) Pinch Pleat:
Pinch pleats (Figure 9) are another type of pleat used in curtains and draperies. These pleats are constituted by stitches from the top which are extended down for a part length. Markings are made for the rest of the length as in the case of tucks. In this case, three small pleats of equal width are grouped together and then basted along the top and front edge. Following this, they are pressed and machined together across the bottom ends.
i) Pleats on Curtains:
Pleats are used in soft furnishings, particularly at the top of curtains, to reduce the fabric so that the curtain will fit on to its track and fit the window. The easiest way to pleat the upper edge of a curtain is to apply a curtain tape. Tapes are available in various depths and will pull the curtain into pencil pleats or goblet pleats. The most common tape used for pencil pleating is 31⁄4 in [8 cm] deep. A curtain is normally cut two and a half to three times the width of the window. The curtain tape will reduce the fabric by this much as it pleats up.
References:
- Apparel Manufacturing Technology by T. Karthik, P. Ganesan, D. Gopalakrishnan
- The Sewing Book By Alison Smith
- Designing Clothes with the Flat Pattern Method: Customize Fitting Shells to Create Garments in Any Style by Sara Alm
- Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph Armstrong
Editor of Fashion2Apparel. She is a fashion designer and ex-lecturer in Fashion Designing. She wants to spread fashion knowledge throughout the world.
