PLEATS WITHOUT TEARS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 6, 29 March 1927, Page 5

PLEATS WITHOUT TEARS

HOME DRESSMAKING HINTS Pleats are tricky things for the amateur dressmaker to handle, but, like most things, they are easily managed when you know how! Supposing your new jumper is to have a two-inch wide box pleat down the centre front. Make sure that the grain of the material is absolutely on the straight, and take a fold at the exact centre front of the jumper as you would to form a large tuck. Pin the material roughly a quarter of an inch from the fold, to hold it; then measure and tack it two inches from the fold. Stitch along the tacking and you have a two-inch tuck. Open out the tuck wJLth the centre (which has been your fold) in line with the stitching, and press it. You now have a two-inch box pleat as straight as a dart! Of course you removed the pins once the pleat was fixed by the stitching. Here is another hint: When you are working on a material that marks easily, use fine needles instead of pins, for they leave no trace behind them. Knife pleats are produced in much the same way—take them up as you would take up tucks. But here you need to measure the material, decide on the width of the tucks, and run a tacking thread where the fold of each pleat is to come, while your material is perfectly flat. Always leave as much material under the pleat as over it: that is to say, for a two-inch pleat you will need four inches of material. First pin the pleats until all are made, then tack them with silk thread and remove the pins. When you press the pleats the silk thread will not leave an impression as cotton does.