Cut, Hang and Hem before Pleating 101

Cut, Hang and Hem before Pleating 101

This is the third post in the Permanent Pleating series where we’re looking at the pre-pleating preparation for a Sunray Circle Skirt and Mushroom Pleated rectangle.  Our first post covered the introduction to the series – Prep for Permanent Pleating 101.  And the second post has all the pattern making information for both skirts; Patterns for Pleating Project 101.

Pre-pleating Preparation – Sun-ray Circle

  1. For all circle skirts, you’ll need to hang the cut piece for a minimum of two days to allow the fabric to drop through the bias parts of the garment.  You can level your half circle skirt hem on the stand or on the table.
  2. Every skirt will drop differently according to how tight or lose the weave of the fabric.  In the photo, you can see the dark pink polyester chiffon has dropped at least 2.5-3cm (1¼”) whereas the printed, de-lustered, duchess satin is a very tight weave and has only dropped 1cm (⅜”).  You can see the 1cm deep off-cut in the photo below.
  3. To prepare for pleating, trim the excess fabric from your skirt and finish your hem, leaving the half circle fabric shape flat, ready for pleating.  In this case, a single turn hem (1-1.5cm/ ⅜-⅝”) with an overlocked or lace-trimmed edge is recommended.  Hand sewing your hem (blind hemming) will give you a better look in the final garment.  However, a straight machine stitch is often used on circle skirts because the hem is so long and often challenging to sew on the curve.
  4. To keep the hem as flat as possible;  try not to double turn the hem of heavier fabrics as the extra bulk may have a detrimental effect on the pleating.
  5. Now your skirt is ready to be sent/taken to the pleaters.

Pre-pleating Preparation – Mushroom Rectangle

  1. Sew only one of the skirt side seams so the entire piece of fabric remains flat for pleating.  As the chiffon is a semi-transparent; a fine french seam would be ideal.
  2. Then finish the hem by double turning and stitching the 1.5cm hem allowance to finish at 7mm.  A machine hem is entirely acceptable in this case.  Feel free to hand sew your hem if that’s your preference.
  3. Next step is to take/send this to the pleaters with a request for mushroom pleating.  (Mushroom pleating is sometimes known as crinkle or fortunay pleating.)  Let me know if they call it something different at your pleating house. 🙂
I’ll be taking my cut pieces to the pleaters at the end of the month.  There’s some delay due to the industry close-down for the holiday season.  If I’m lucky they’ll allow me take some photos of the process.  Let me know if you have any questions, I’m always happy to help.  🙂
Anita McAdam
enquiries@studiofaro.com
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