Pleats and Pleating

Lesson card: pleats

• Knife pleats: all the pleats face one direction, as in a Scottish kilt.
• Box and inverted pleats: a box pleat is two folds turning away from each other so a panel stands out; an inverted pleat is two folds meeting on the right side, hiding the extra fabric behind them.
• Accordion and sunray: fine zigzag pleats heat-set between folded paper pleating moulds; a sunray skirt is cut as a circle, so the pleats widen from waist to hem.
• Fabric: thermoplastic synthetics such as polyester hold heat-set pleats permanently through washing; cotton, linen and viscose hold pressed pleats only temporarily; wool holds pleats well with steam and pressure.
• The three-times rule: full knife or box pleats whose depth equals their visible width need three times the finished measurement in fabric.
• From history: the pleated silk Delphos gown, created in Venice around 1907 (patented 1909), is linked to Mariano Fortuny, though recent research credits his partner and later wife, Henriette Negrin, with its design. In 1993 Issey Miyake launched Pleats Please, where the garment is sewn first and then heat-pleated.