Pleats, Darts, Gathers, Tucks

Pleats, Tucks, Gathers, Darts:

Flat pleats

These are parallel folds lifted from the surface of the fabric and laid down to the side. They include knife pleats, box pleats and set in pleats, all are secured with stitch at the top and released below.

Projecting pleats

These are folds lifted from the surface of the fabric and arranged so that they stand out from the fabric itself. They include pinch pleats, organ pleats and cartridge pleats.

Accordion pleats

These are made by folding fabric alternately in and out creating projecting pleats. This is the kind or pleating used for smocking and can be performed by hand, or mechanically on a smocking pleater.

Standard tucks

These are parallel folds of fabric held by stitching from one end to the other. They include pin tucks, centred tucks, which have two folds made by centring each tuck over its seam and tapered tucks which have straight seams which are stitched obliquely to the fold. The easiest method of sewing pin tucks is using a twin needle with the top tension slightly tightened. The tighter the top tension and the thinner the fabric, the more raised the tuck will be. For neat even tucks, always start by stitching the tuck on the extreme right and always stitch in the same direction (from top to bottom).

The sample on the right show a variety of standard tucks, including cross tucking and double centred tucks, slashed tucks, including sharks…