Adding inverted pleats to a pattern.

                                                                 

With my pattern pieces cut and armed with my toile fabric, I am turning my mind to the tweaks and changes I would like to make to this pattern, (seems I'm never satisfied!) The first of these is to add some pleats into the back of the skirt. I am taking inspiration from a dress that sang my name from the window display of Jigsaw, whilst wandering Argyll Street in between meetings, (always dangerous!...and with Liberty so close by as well...a wooorld of temptation!)

I loved the extra shape it gave the back of the dress making such an elegant profile. In a kind of 'homage' to the effect this creates, I am adding one inverted box pleat on each side of the back of the skirt. Something along these lines....

With this extra detail at the back in mind, I have also decided to move the zip from the back of the dress, where the pattern places it, to the side. This means that I can now cut the upper back and lower back panels each as one piece on the fold, (rather than two pieces each, joined by the zip in the middle).

To create these pleats in the back, I am adding an extra panel into the pattern piece. First step was to cut the pattern piece in half. I measured to get a centre point of the pattern piece at the top and bottom to ensure a straight line. If you end up with a measurement that is not readily divisible by 2 in a hurry, then a trick is to fold your tape measure in half at that measurement, et voila!

 

I next decided how large I wanted each pleat to be with a few practise runs. Then took a measurement of the fold of the pleat in order to ascertain how much extra width I needed to add into the pattern piece. This measurement is taken on the fabric you see when you open out the fold of the pleat :

The idea...                               Sizing up on my toile & opening out the fold to measure:                  
           

 

In this case, the pleats 'depth' is 3cm so measuring the inside fold (over both sets of arrows) gives 6cm. As I am using two pleats to make each inverted box pleat, I need to make it 12cm, i.e. adding a total extra of 12cm width to the pattern piece for the back of the skirt.

Having cut the pattern piece in half, the easiest way now is to insert a piece of paper of 12cm width into the pattern piece. When cutting this piece of paper it can be a good idea to add an extra centimetre either side as well, giving a bit of extra to play with when taping or pinning it to the pattern. Next stage will be to mark up where the pleats are going on the pattern piece! Something to ponder for tomorrow!