I told you I would finish all this talking about pleats but there’s one more way to make them…maybe the simplest of all.
I was working in my sewing room when all of a sudden I heard something coming from the fabric shelf. It sounded quite excited-like. As I got closer, I could see one of my red plaid fabrics waving her selvages frantically!! “WHAT ABOUT ME? WHAT ABOUT ME?” As soon as I saw her, I realized there WAS one more way of making pleats…but ONLY with plaid fabrics…and it had to be EVEN plaids, not UNEVEN plaids.
There are a zillion blog posts out there if you google “even vs uneven” plaids. I picked “one” of them if you wanted to read more about it. It might be overkill, trying to make my point, but it’s very good at explaining the difference.
Let me show you this simple way…Oh, but first, here is that red plaid that was talking to me…
Here is a closeup shot so you can see it a little better…it’s a homespun fabric and very easy to work with…
Now, what do I mean by EVEN plaids? If you take a corner of the fabric and pull it up and lay it up at an angle, like this… you can easily match up the design in the plaid…
Usually the best way for me to tell an even and uneven plaid is to squint my eyes after folding the corner up… if it looks all square and nothing seems off, it’s most likely an even plaid…
I looked for something that was definitely an uneven plaid in my stash and didn’t find one… (I’m pretty much a symmetrical girl!)
Anyway, so I wanted to show you another way to pleat a skirt and this way can only work with plaids…although you could do it with some geometrical and square patterns too…but today it’s all about this red plaid…and box pleats!
I decided I wanted to take the two black lines in this plaid (with the yellow pins in them) and fold them over to the red line (with the green pin) in the middle of the dark section of the plaid…
Here they are folded to the middle red line and pinned in place…
Then I moved on the next set of black lines and folded them over to the red line in the middle…
…and on to the next…
…until I had gone the width of the fabric…
I pressed the piece at the very top section with my iron over the pointed ends of my pins but not the yellow pin heads… (they can melt)
Then I took the piece to the sewing machine and stitched along the top edge…making sure to use a seam ripper to hold my pleats together where they meet in the middle.
After the top was stitched, I took it back to my ironing board and pressed the pleats all the way down, carefully removing the pins as I eased my iron down each pleat…
Now normally I would suggest you hem your skirt at the bottom edge approximately the length you want it. I didn’t realize I was going to turn this into something… just thought I’d show you how to make pleats this way, but since I was already this far along… I decided to go ahead and make it into a skirt…
I serged the bottom edge of my skirt and turned up the bottom edge on one of the plaid lines… and carefully pressed ONLY the bottom edge of it. I can easily get my pleats to go back together, but there’s no need to go up any higher than is necessary…
I went back to my sewing machine and stitched the hem on the red line as I was using red thread in my machine.
…and there you have it… my beautiful pleats, made by just following the lines in the plaid fabric…
I’ll have to show you what I turn it into! Stay tuned!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
I hadn’t thought about that method, Jeanne, but it makes perfect sense! As always your pictures are top-notch!
That was a good explanation about regular and irregular plaids. I might add that, very rarely, you will find a plaid that LOOKS regular, but it truly is irregular, so using that bias test (does it match on both sides of the diagonal line) is especially important. They can be sneaky!
Thank you Charlotte,
I was thinking I maybe should do a quickie lesson on how to match up plaids whether they are even or uneven… I did a long plaid vest in 4H one year and was complimented on how well my plaid matched. :o)
Thanks Charlotte,
I’m glad you enjoyed the post, even though I know you know all about plaids already!
Blessings, Jeanne
A red plaid pleated skirt, Jeanne! Hmmm, what qare you doing to me?? 😉 I see now that all these years, I have been blissfully ignorant of doing the “right” thing, when working with pleats! Sometimes what you don’t know doesn’t hurt!! My daughter Jennifer, was going to a Cahtolic grade school and you could either buy uniforms or buy the material and make them. For the price, sewing them was the cheaper way to do it, so that’s what I did. Making 4 or 5 skirts that would last several years sounded too good! I got the pattern, and material and sewed away, and of course, it was a plaid! Well, what do you know, each skirt came out differently to no one’s surprise! The ones you could buy were all matched and perfect, but who could tell, said I! Jennifer didn’t notice, and it seems no one else did, but you would have had a fit! By the time she got to high school, and that was a different one, we discovered you could buy used skirts from the girls no longer needing them, and that’s what she did, since she also had to buy a rather pricey blazer too!
Your “series” pleats has been very informative, and who better to teach us?!
Thanks Linda,
I loved your story about sewing those plaid skirts for your daughter. I’ve done my share of mismatched plaids so don’t feel bad. It took me until I was about 10 or 12 until I got the hang of how to do it… now when I see one that’s off, I sort of cringe… but it’s cheaper to not match up the plaid, because it does take more fabric to match them up.
I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the pleats week! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, the plaids. Love the box pleats and now knowing that there are even and uneven plaids. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever noticed before. Am I the only one who carefully pulled out the stitches of a stitched down pleated skirt to make a “new” a-line one? My friends and I all did that in high school. Such were the times. 🙂
Yesterday, we were finally able to drive down and see the grands. Smoke was slightly worse there than here, but we were inside anyway with lots of air purifiers running. Amazing how much they have changed in three months. They each have their own station around the house for distance learning all set up with necessary pens/pencils etc. The fourth grader has several teachers for different subjects and one has been traveling around California and filming different historical locations to share. Since they can no longer do field trips, this is working very well.
Loved Linda’s adventure with plaids. Great story. 🙂
It will be interesting to see just who inherits the now pleated fabric Jeanne is making. Maybe it isn’t for a doll. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow. 🙂
Oh my gosh, Joy. I thought I was the only one who remade pleated skirts into a-line skirts. When I started working I was living at home and had some money to spend on clothes so I bought some lovely wools skirts, and plaid, pleated skirts were the style then. A few years later I was on my own and money was an object. I still had two beautiful pleated skirts but they were out of style, a-lines were in. So, I took out all the stitching. I took them to the cleaners then for pressing to get most of the pleat lines out of them. Then I made the a-line skirts, took them to the cleaners for cleaning and pressing. Voila! Two beautiful a-line skirts with no evidence they had once been pleated.
HI Barbara,
Boy, you and Joy are both go getters on those skirts! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne
Good to hear Barbara. One had to be very careful not to cut the fabric accidentally. 🙂
Hi Joy,
I don’t think I ever undid a pleated skirt to turn it into an A-line one, but I probably cut one up to use it for something else. :o)
I loved the idea of the teacher traveling around doing mobile field trips since the kids can’t go anywhere. Very creative minds working there!
Surely you must know it’s for a doll! :o) You’ll see…
Blessings, Jeanne
I forgot to mention that I’m so happy you got to visit with your grandchildren. Yes, distance learning can be interesting. I walked in one morning and Skyy was on the floor balancing a shoe on his foot. Then he made three paper airplanes and got a laundry basket and launched them into it from different distances, and then he had to do something with a blanket. I asked him if he was on break. He said no, he was doing PE. Then Jaiden needed four plastic cups and a plastic plate. Her mom had a doctor’s appointment and came home before she went to work. She saw all the cups and asked why she had all the cups out. She said it was for science. Ya gotta luv it. I think mine will be back in-person next Monday. They are having a teachers” meeting this Friday to finalize things. I hope.
That plaid is going to make a beautiful skirt. I think it’s going to be for Molly.
After the snow, we have returned to summer. with greener lawns from all the water. It is cooler – 85 today. I think of Joy and all the West Coast people who are sharing their smoke with us and wish I could send them a few hours of clear sky.
Stay well and safe, everyone.
PS — Saturday evening I sent a link to the “cardboard cathedral” in Christchurch., NZ, sunce we had been talking about cardboard. Here is the link, if you missed it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardboard_Cathedral
HI Marilyn,
I’m glad you went back to summer for a little while yet. I think you needed some green again before the “real” snow comes in full force. :o)
We’ll see who gets the skirt…
I did check out the “Cardboard Cathedral” in NZ… beautiful… Thanks for sharing!
Blessings, Jeanne
The plaid is waving and talking to you, Jeanne? LOL. Actually, your comment reminds me of The Mary Francis books where the sewing implements and cooking pots etc. talked. I discovered those in the library along with the American Girls Handy book series one day as we were browsing.
What a perfect way to make pleats and know beforehand if the fabric is even or not. Maybe that’s why some plaids are so frustrating.
Looking forward to seeing who gets the plaid skirt. I’m guessing it’s Molly!
Thanks for the link to the Cathedral, Marilyn. I will read it later.
Forgot to mention one more thing, Jeanne. I saw that you told me you used to have some of the early catalogs. Yes, I wish I had saved those early ones as well. I got the very first one in 1989. I think it had Kirsten on the cover. I do have the AG one from 1999 which I believe was the last one that featured complete historical collections.
It’s not the same, but if you type in AGPT Felicity (and then any other historical doll name) you can see her collection. Here’s Felicity’s
http://www.agplaythings.com/Historicals/Felicity/Felicity1774.html
And then American Girl Wiki will let you browse everything (historical, AGOT, GOTY) by year it was released from 1986 to present.
https://americangirl.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Items_Released_in_1986
HI Laura,
I know it’s a bit goofy to have my fabric talking to me, but it was just something that popped in my head and I ran with it… silly or not…
I’ll have to check out your links for the historical items… I really really wish I hadn’t sold the catalogs. I used to look at them A LOT! Silly me again!
Blessings, Jeanne
I just love plaids and this is a beautiful one. Can’t wait to see what it is going to be and who it’s for if it is for anyone. Thanks for the go-by to see whether a plaid is even or uneven. It’s easy enough to check before you start tearing your hair out.
We had two beautiful days last week, temps in the 80s and low humidity. The normal is back, but the high temperatures do seem to be coming down. There’s another hurricane in the Gulf but we seem safe from this one. It looks like New Orleans may be spared again, because I saw this morning Sally had shifted more east.
I will definitely checkout the Cardboard Cathedral link. Thanks Marilyn.
HI Barbara,
I’m glad you enjoyed yet another post on how to work with plaids… I think I’ve put in a full week of pleating and have one more post to go…
We are enjoying some nice weather here too… a bit warm but the humidity is lower so it’s much more tolerable outside! :o)
Thanks Barbara,
Blessings, Jeanne
You’re right. This is the simplest way so far, but don’t those pleats look nice! This method also works for woven gingham check. Funny story: my grandma loved dresses with pleated skirts, and she called them pleaty-tailed dresses. I often think of things she used to say, and they always make me smile.
HI Carolyn,
Well, I think you’ll have to make your dolls a pleaty-tailed skirt or dress soon! Your grandma would love it! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne
I replied to Marilyn’s comment on our cathedral yesterday. There is a bit of a fuss going on now as the Catholic Cathedral was also destroyed in the earthquake and at the time the Cardinal promised it would be rebuilt, bearing in mind this was almost 10 years ago. Last week they did a turnaround they are not now rebuilding it and they have already started on demolition. It was quite a different building to the Anglican one and although I passed it continually as it is on the one way system going east I have never been inside it. My son says they have one of the domes sitting in their demolition yard at work! I think he said they want them back now!
Linda’s story about her daughter’s plaid skirt made me laugh. Many years ago my middle two children were going to go to a new Christian school (that we were going to have to pay fees for). They called a meeting of prospective parents to decide on a uniform. I went along thinking there would be a discussion about what it should be especially for the girls. No I found when I got there it was a fait accompli. We were told what they were going to be. And not the simple pinafore that most mothers could run up at home but a proper kilt in a pure wool WHITE plaid that could only be purchased at the most expensive store in the city at a cost of $90, which was a lot of money then, especially for a primary school skirt (the daughter who was to wear it will be 50 next year). Because it was wool it was supposed to be dry cleaned only. I was going to try to make it but got talked out of it because of the difficulties of the plaid and making the pleats properly. The material was so expensive that I didn’t dare try to make it in case I ruined it and still had to buy one. I can tell you that it didn’t get dry cleaned though. I hand washed it and spent hours pressing it (well perhaps that’s a bit exaggerated lol). They were both very unhappy there so when we moved house they both changed schools and went to the local state schools. Do you know I can’t remember what happened to it but I’m guessing I sold it on.
Spring is definitely on its way here. Yesterday it was 22C. Today we are only expecting 14C very typical Christchurch weather. Nor westers usually precede a south westerly change which is cold and wet (those of you in the northern hemisphere have to think opposites). The antipodes of NZ is Spain but because we are in the middle of the almost empty Pacific Ocean our weather is very changeable. Also when the wind comes from the north west it drops all its rain on the other side of the Southern Alps so by the time it gets to us on the East Coast (Canterbury Plains) it is very hot and dry. One year we had a terrible drought in Canterbury with nor westers and hot sunshine almost constantly but it was so wet on the West Coast (it actually rained for 11 months) the cattle were sinking up to their bellies in mud and the children hadn’t been outside for a year without gumboots. Cattle (and children) were being sent over the mountains to get out of the rain. My sister and her husband happened to visit at the beginning of the drought and we did a road trip down the east coast and across to the west. We stopped in Hokitika and experienced the heaviest rain they had ever seen. It even got into the boot of the car which wet the foam of the back seat. It took the two (fine) days we had in Picton at the top of the South Island to dry out. My BIL remarked that if we could only find a way to turn the country on it’s side to tip the water to the east we would be fine lol.
We thought we might go back to level one on Wednesday, but no, they have extended it for another week at level 2 and what they are calling level 2.5 in Auckland. Very frustrating but this cluster in Auckland just won’t go away. We still don’t have any cases in the community in the South Island so hope it stays that way.
Ah well time to get moving today is a busy day, dog walking first then my Tuesday coffee morning, then shopping. I don’t mind the shopping I just hate putting it all away. See you all tomorrow
HI Anne,
It sounds like there is some confusion as to what should be done with the church… maybe someone will get it figured out…
Wow, that is quite a uniform story. $90 for a skirt? Yikes… I’d don’t know what I would have done… and to think that you now don’t know where that skirt went… boo hoo! :o(
My goodness that’s a lot of rain… glad it finally stopped! Spring? Ah… I wish we were almost ready for spring… instead of Fall and Winter… Well, actually I LOVE Fall, but not what follows it… :o(
I hope you had a nice day shopping and even putting it away! :o) Yes, we’ll see you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Hi Jeanne, I really should look at the previous blog before I comment on this days blog! Just read your answer to yesterdays comment to me.
I have only been to Houston once, just for a week. I will tell you the story and then why I didn’t look for a doll when I was there.
In 2018 my second son was turning 50 and my youngest was struggling with what to get him for his birthday. He rang me and asked if Darren would like a DNA test from Ancestry. I think it was more for him than Darren but that is by the way. I said he might be opening a can of worms there! The older three would know what I was referring to but he was still very young when I told them so he actually didn’t know, but my lovely Dad who I loved with all my heart wasn’t my biological father, my Mum went to a party with her sisters and had too much to drink and you can work out the rest. My father was an American serviceman. My grandmother (Dad’s Mum) threw my Mum out when she found out and expected Dad to do the same when he came home but he didn’t and he had his name put on my birth certificate. I found out some of this when I was in my 20’s but eventually heard as much as Dad knew after Mum died.
Anyway we got Darren the test kit and almost immediately had a result that I had a half brother in Texas. He, of course, had no idea that I existed but had always been an only child so was absolutely delighted to have a sister. We corresponded and tried to get to know each other as best we could. Not long after he had another result, we had another half sister from the same town as my Mum. She had unfortunately passed away but her son was living less than half an hour away from where my sister lives in UK. I wasn’t too sorry that my biological father had also died and especially Charlie’s mother as I don’t know how I would have felt if I had to meet them! Anyway I was already planning my trip to UK with Sam and Ashley so decided to come home via Houston so I could meet Charlie and one son and his family, the other lived too far away in Seattle. Sam and I were also able to meet my nephew Colin in UK.
As for buying a doll over there, as much as I love dolls, I hadn’t discovered your blog then and I live in a culture that believes playing with dolls is for children and at the time my grandaughters weren’t interested in dolls, none of them. Ashley was given money for her 9th birthday just after Christmas and bought herself an OG doll which came as a surprise to us all. I got quite excited as I now had an excuse to play with them but I found I needed a doll for myself to try the clothes on as I was making them and that is how I started my collection. I discovered your blog on Pinterest while I was looking for ideas for doll clothes and the rest is history as they say.
If I visit Houston again I will certainly save up and make sure I have enough money for an AG doll and if Charlie and Nimfa visit me I will ask them to bring one over with them but of course none of that is possible at the moment. So that is my story.
Anne, if you ever visit Houston, you’ll have to let me know. I live in Sealy which is on I-10 exactly 50 miles from downtown Houston, which is no big deal here. I shop and eat a lot on the west side of Houston which is 35 miles from me. I love your stories about NZ and actually looked up Christchurch and Auckland today on the internet. I was totally amazed. The cities are lovely and NZ is absolutely gorgeous. Since it’s kind of in the “middle of nowhere” so to speak, do you ever feel isolated? I’ve lived in the U.S. all my life and the most isolation I’ve felt is in west Texas or some parts of Colorado, but drive a little and you won’t feel that way.
Hi Barbara
In day to day life we don’t feel isolated of course but yes it is isolating when the nearest country is 2000kms away. My eldest son lives in Melbourne so only get to visit every couple of years or so. There are as many people living in Melbourne as in the whole of NZ!
My brother actually lives in Karnes City but his son lives in Houston. We stayed in a hotel in Houston for the week as it was more convenient for taking me around the sights. I went to Galveston and to the Houston Space Centre amongst other places.
Hi Anne,
You have the most incredible stories… I’m glad the DNA results netted you a brother at least.
I hope you do get to make that trip to Houston and pick up a few dolls while there. Get one with the longest prettiest hair so you can fix it in all sorts of styles…
Thanks Anne
Blessings, Jeanne