How to hand-pleat fabric

[Petit Lucille]

i refuse to believe that you can only do this process with industrial machines.
there are a couple of ways to do almost anything at home such as dying fabric with products sold for that purpose or natural things like tea and beets.
anybody knows some way to pleat a fabric at home with a manual natural way?

 

[gius]

fabrics are still pleated by hand too...

or do you mean very fine pleats?
i've used a machine that has tons of needles.. you manually turn a wheel, and the needles will form the pleats

global-trade.com.tw

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another method
have you heard of 'smocking" ?
it is a kind of embroidery.. it gathers fabric into tiny folds and designs...

piccianodesigns.com

 

[Scott]

there's also that other smoking technique people use to create shirt frills. granted hand techniques with pleating are never as precise nor sharp as the machines. you could find yourself an antique version that's perhaps a bit more manual..if you wanted that element but still wanted the precision?

 

[Petit Lucille]

that is a great technique, but i really didn't consider smock was a way of pleating, more like a shrinking to me. i shall try to do it this way, though thanks!!

but i want to play with the pleats, (not in a veeery precise way), but i don't have a machine, nor do i have the space if i ever got one. nevertheless, i wondered around to see how are the machines and they are extremely expensive.

 

[daniellat]

You mean like this?

fabricgallery.net
ive done this by hand. the only thing you need is a good iron and lots of patience.
Ive done it on a foam covered table, pinned top and bottom of the fabric as i marked the pleats then pass my iron across back and forth....and so on. i only tried light fabrics like chiffon though....

 

[Petit Lucille]

wow!!! that is very precise!!!!!!! congratulations. it is what i want, but i have to ask you if you wash it, it goes flat again?

 

[daniellat]

so far ive only tried it on clothes from shows and stuff. i believe it would get flat after washing, too bad im not at school anymore to ask one of my teachers what to do int his case...

 

[Petit Lucille]

hmf. that is the trick.. but there has to be a product to make it stay pleated, right?

 

[daniellat]

i supposed there is i just dont know how its called haha..ill do some google on it

 

[daniellat]

Although its not pleating itself, ive found a very interesting method to achieve the "Delphos" look.

http://www.costumes.org/Classes/254pages/PROJECTS/fortunyfake2.htm

 

[daniellat]

Oooh i have found a very unexpensive pleater board! thing is it only says you should use tricot to preserve the pleats but nothing about washing or aftercare. im tempted to buy one of these.

http://www.wwwearables.com/techniques/pleater_board.htm

 

[gius]

You can buy fusible tricot that is washable ^

but i want to play with the pleats, (not in a veeery precise way), but i don't have a machine, nor do i have the space if i ever got one. nevertheless, i wondered around to see how are the machines and they are extremely expensive.

The machine I've used was quite small actually --I couldn't find a picture of it on the Internet; I am not sure what it is really called. It basically looks like a rolling pin on a stand. It is heavy.. all metal.. But it's not big the size of a big rolling pin
Anyway I could use only a very fine fabric for this machine, like chiffon and so on

You don't want precise pleats?
I think the "delphos" link daniellat posted would be perfect then


By the way,
I don't know what kind of pleats you know about
but when I make pleats for a dress, there are stitches under the fold.. So it is always permanent. My guess though is you will still have to iron it after washing, unless you use a non-wrinkling fabric... maybe synthetic

 

[daniellat]

oh about the washable, i meant that it said practically that the only way to make the pleats permanent was to put tricot on them, it was unclear if the pleats would stay or not after washing the fabric.

Ive done the tricot thing here, just pleat, iron and put tricot on the back
hmm couldnt find the image after all haha, but you all know how it looks, the only risk is that after several washings or if the tricot isnt put correctly it can fall off or get bubbles here and there.

then i did the sewing thing...and it was like torture, wouldnt reccomend it only if your life depends on it haha but its true that holds the pleats really good.

But i think she means, or actually id like to know is how to make this kind of pleats permanent, since you cant actually put stitches on this, just the cut on top of the dress, i dont think that would be enough, would it?

condenast.co.uk

 

[gius]

why can't you put stitches on that? ..

 

[daniellat]

if you put stitches on the pleats it wont open, it would be all flat. like the dress above.

 

[gius]

what about inside of the pleat?
the part that is not exposed

 

[daniellat]

the thing is that i dont want to stitch it together cause that will mean that the pleat would hang flat like a school uniform skirt, all even pleats on top of another, i just want the effect of pleated paper sort to say. if you pleat a paper sheet, then stretch it a litle, the marks will stay, righ? i want that on fabric.....i know its possible like the purple dress but im not sure if just ironing is enough for it to stay after washing it, do i have to use high temperature like almost burn it for it to stay? i think ill better do it on a piece of fabric and see if it works

 

[Feline]

If you stitch the top of the pleats, it will give you a guide, but pleating = pressing, and I don't think there's any getting away from it

 

[gius]

i see what you mean now
sorry though i have no idea

but hey the Delphos dress method you posted earlier, that's the closest for sure
i have pleated poly organza in a binder and it gets a lot of beating.. still pleated. i suggest using a respirator and having good air circulation when doing it

 

[daniellat]

i couldnt just gve up on this and kept on searching. Ive found the arashi shibori method can be pretty useful for this but as ive never tried it, and know you have gius, maybe you can share with us?

So far i ve only found this pole wrapping thing, and it seems like it works but im not sure what to do if i only want to do vertical pleats? what about a long lets say 2 yards of fabric?

entwinements
as you can see the pleats are really tiny and pretty close to the fortuny technique
she wrapped it diagonally to have pleats on different directions but the lenght of the fabric afects the finishing? i mean the longer the fabric the thicker it gets ont he pole, maybe the string wont work? and finally the dye has anything to do with it? i mean i dont care about the color or discharge water or watever, i just want to know if ths works to preserve the pleats just by boiling them? is it the same working with silk like above or any other fabrics?