Adding pleats

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

I recently bought a pattern unawares that the “pleats” mentioned on the pattern were non-existent – in my excitement I hadn’t realised that the pleats came from the pre-pleated polyester fabric suggested on the back of the pattern! This leaves me in an odd position.
As this pattern will make up part of my GCSE Textiles dress, I’m reluctant to simply go with pre-pleated polyester fabric, and I’m sure that I could add pleats to the skirt pattern (which is, by the way, just a big rectangle) – my concern is that if I get rid of the pleats my grade will drop through the floor. However, I have no experience in pattern drafting and wouldn’t know where to begin, and I wouldn’t know how tricky it would be – or if it would be worth the effort at all!
Help? 🙁

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

yes! You can totally add your own pleats to a pattern and it’s easy. 😀 Mark where you want a pleat to be on the waistline of the skirt and continue this line down to the hemline. Cut on this line, separating the pattern into two pieces. Add a strip of paper, the width would be desired width of the pleat (like 2″ or so) and each side of your pattern will get taped to this strip. At the waistline, draw a dash line about 3″ in length down each side of the taped strip and on the strip put an arrow pointing to the center front of the pattern, because the pleat always gets folded so it’s going towards the center of the garment. And you’ve just add your first pleat! If you want more, then just repeat the process. If you want even more help, check out our premium tutorial Skirt Pleat Pattern on our site and I show you the whole process. Get a good grade! 😀

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