The patternless pleated skirt

Photo: Elza D

And here it is: the pleated skirt tutorial.

First things first: don't be alarmed by the length of this blog post. I'm just giving you an extremely thorough explanation so that literally anyone can make this - not that I'm underestimating you, ofcourse.

Let's proceed. This tutorial doesn't have a pattern, it's just a straight piece of fabric with a few folds/pleats in it. Hence the 'patternless pleated skirt'. See, even the name is easy to explain.

There is a specific distance between all those pleats, and once you have figured that out (max. 5 minutes, finding your calculator not included), you're halfway there.
So, not only is this a fabulous dress, it is also a fast and easy project. I'm telling you, this is instant success!

Okay, let's start. What do you need?
- Fabric. Use light fabric, e.g. light cotton. You will need 3 times the waist of the subject you're sewing for.
- Bias binding: 2 or 3 times the waist; you can choose the width.
- Zipper
- Calculator




Maths
1.  Measure your waist (or the girth of the part of the body where you want the skirt to begin) and add 1 or 2 cm for a comfortable fit (this is only necessary if you pulled the tape measure tightly around the waist. If you didn't measure so tightly, you don't have to add 1 or 2 cm). (A)
2. Choose the width of the pleats (e.g. the green skirt has 3 cm pleats)
3. Divide the waist (A) by the chosen pleat width. You will end up with as many pleats as the number before the comma on your calculator. Decide whether you're happy with this number of pleats. If the outcome is e.g. 20,3, you can opt for both 21 or for 20 pleats. (C)
Because of the number behind the comma, you need to adjust the pleat width. Do this by dividing the waist (A) by the number of pleats (C) and you end up with the exact pleat width (B).
4. You will need three times as much fabric as the waist + 2 cm seam allowance (D)
5. Measure the length of the skirt and add 3 cm seam allowance. (E)
The top of the skirt will be finished with bias so you don't need to add extra seam allowance there.


Cutting
- Use the calculations above (D & E) to cut your fabric.
- If you still have to iron your fabric, use this opportunity to also iron the bottom seam allowance (hem). Just fold 3 cm of the bottom edge of your fabric upwards and 1 cm downwards again.




- Starting (and ending) at 1 cm of the side seams, put marks for the pleat width (B). Count the pleats: you need three times C (every pleat consists of three layers of fabric). Look here for a detailed drawing and an example.

Stitching
- Put the short sides together (right sides together) and stitch with a 1 cm seam allowance.



- Insert the zipper, your way or mine.
The zipper starts right underneath the bias binding, so insert the zipper at 1 cm (or the width of the bias binding you're using) of the fabric end. Have a look at the drawing below if you don't see what I mean.
- Zigzag or overlock the seam underneath the zipper.


- Edgestitch the hem.



- Now start working on the pleats. You can either pin the pleats first or start stitching right away. Have a close look at the drawing to see which marks should be put on top of each other. Make sure to always put the third mark on the first. Every pleat consists of three layers.




Put your fabric right side up when stitching.

- Make sure that you stitch in the area where the biais binding will go (so the stitches won't show in the final result). Fold and stitch until you reach the other side of the zipper.



When you're ready, it should look like this on the inside.



- Measure the waist of the skirt. If you haven't stitched very accurately, it is possible that you've 'won' or 'lost' some mm. You can then either undo every pleat and restart, or you can cheat a little and undo one or two pleats, and hide your mistake in those two pleats. I won't tell anyone.



- Sew the bias binding to the skirt (using your own way, or mine), leaving 20 cm or more on both sides to tie the skirt.


Voila, the pleated skirt!



Photo: Elza D


For more inspiration, have a look at the pleated skirts on the Flickrpool and be sure to add your own!

The pleated skirt: extended prologue

Except for more or less straight stitching and using a calculator, there is one more (and final) skill you need to acquire in order to sew a pleated skirt: inserting a zipper!
Nevertheless, this doesn't have to be a problem ... when you use a few tricks.



1. Put the two pieces where the zipper should be right sides together and stitch them together at 1 cm (or the indicated seam allowance). For the pleated skirt, these two pieces are the two short sides of the fabric. Iron the seams.



2. Put the zipper right side up and put some glue next to the zipper's teeth. Glue the zipper against the wrong side of the fabric (the zipper should lay flat by putting the slider upwards). When glueing, you have to align the top side of the zipper at 1 cm distance of the fabric side. Then gently unfold the zipper downwards, with the middle of the zipper's teeth neatly aligned with the seam. Press with your fingers and let it dry for a moment. Use a pin to mark where you have to stop sewing.



3. Turn over your fabric, right side up. Change the regular foot to a zipper foot and start sewing to the right of the zipper. Go all the way down where you turn your fabric 90°, sew over the zipper, turn 90° again and finish at the top of the zipper.

If you want, you can use a chalk marker in step 1 to put a parallel line to the left and right seam to make sure you stitch in a straight line.

Gently remove the stitches of step 1 with a seam ripper.

The pleated skirt: Prologue - bias binding

Okay. The pleated skirt tutorial turned out to be a little longer than 'just' a blog post, so I'll have to post in different stages. Today, my dear friends, I'll start off with the infallible Bias Binding Trick.

Bias binding always has its two sides folded inwards. If this is not the case, don't buy it. It will most likely not be bias binding or it will only lead to a bias binding struggle.
The two most common types of bias binding are those with the sides almost touching each other in the middle, and those where this is not the case. The first type is the easiest to use.

When sewing bias binding, always use thread in the same or a slightly lighter colour than the bias binding, not in the same colour of your fabric.






1. Put the binding against the wrong side of the fabric, aligning the upper side of the bias binding with the edge of the fabric. Sew inside the fold of the bias binding (cf. the dotted line in the picture above) backstitching at the beginning and the end.




Fold the lower part of the bias over towards the right side of the fabric and edgestitch. Note that the folded-over edge should just barely cover the stitching of step 1. This way the stitches on the back side disappear in the seam or on the bias binding; they never show on the fabric.




If you only want to apply bias binding around a part of your fabric edge (so not a closed circle), you have to fold the ends of the binding around the side edges of your fabric, towards the right side of the fabric, as in the picture above, upper left corner.
Then fold the biais binding open (wrong sides of the bias binding touching each other), fold down together and edgestitch as in step 2. This way you'll have neat corners.





When you do make a 'closed circle', the drawing below shows how you 'close' your bias.


Remarks:
- Step 1: If you work with very bulky fabric don't stitch it inside the seam of the binding but just above. That way, you have more binding left to bridge the bulky fabric and you will have enough binding to cover the front side of the fabric right up to the stitching of step 1.
- If for some reason you aren't able to put the binding in step 3 against or over the stitching of step 1, cheat a little by cutting off a millimeter of the fabric (which will be covered by the binding). You don't even have to take out your needle from the fabric to solve this problem (as opposed to the 'proper' way where you take out the stitches of step 1 and stitch everything again, this time a little closer to the side - but who wants to do this when there is an easier way?)

Celebrate the dino mittens

Last year I made these dinosaur mittens as a birthday present for Jef. Like all boys of his age, he is totally into dinosaurs, so any dinosaur-related thing I make, is a success.

Which boy doesn't dream of dino mittens? And it happens to be one of the easiest things you can sew, as you can see on the manual below.





What you need:
- A paper to draw the pattern on
- Fleece
- White felt or white rubber for the teeth
- 2 buttons

How to proceed:
Tip: first make a test version without the teeth and the buttons, it will save you a lot of frustration.

1.
-Draw around the hand on a piece of paper.
- Draw another line parallel to this at about 1-1.5 cm distance of the outline of the hand (have a look at the picture above) to make the mitten fit less tightly.
Use a 2 cm seam at the bottom, where the wrist will be.

2.
- Cut out the pattern pieces, mark on each piece where the button has to come. Make sure that the fabric stretches in the same direction as noted on the pattern. Otherwise you might not be able to put your hand inside because the mitten won't stretch enough.
- Cut out two rectangles of felt or rubber (those will become the teeth - you don't cut the teeth until the last step)

3.
- Sew the 2 buttons right onto the two hand pieces.
- Sew the felt or rubber to the right side of one of the two fleece hand pieces with a 2-3 milimeter seam allowance.

4.
-Stitch right sides together with a 5 mm seam allowance.
F-old the seam of the wrist wrong sides together and stitch with a zigzag.

5.
- Cut out the teeth and finished!

Groooowwwl!