No pattern used pleated dress

Posted on:	8/19/05 1:23 AM
Pattern Size:	Regular
Project Photo:
I bought a beautiful pleated chiffon from EmmaOneSock intending to copy a dress I own that is a simple sleeveless column. When the fabric arrived I became intimidated by it as I had never sewn with anything like it. It is polyester chiffon that shreds, is sheer and kind of pouffy. The pleats are not permanent and pressing made them disappear. I experimented with small pieces trying to figure out how to approach sewing it. More about that in a minute. I discovered I had another piece of much less expensive pleated fabric in my stash so I thought, a ha! I will sew it up, learn all I need to know and be ready for the other fabric. I laid out the fabric and laid my dress on top of it and traced around it. Cut it out, serged around the edges and had the dress done in 45 minutes. This experimental dress came out great. I'm very happy with it especially since it took so little time. Now back to the pleated chiffon. I realized that sewing the first dress didn't help me at all as it was a stable knit with permanent pleats. It took to serging well and fit easily. I traced around the chiffon and tried the same approach. The serger ate up the edges especially at the neckline. I had to cut off that edge which resulted in a lower neckline. After many hours of trying different ways to finish the edges I ended up hand sewing on a strip of the fabric with the pleats pressed out. It still doesn't look wonderful but it will pass. Since the fabric poufs it doesn't follow the body as well. I'm not sure what I will do if it needs washing as I'm sure all the pleats will disappear. I guess this review is more about dealing with fabric than about a pattern. To make it more like a pattern review I will sum up by encouraging you to try tracing a garment you own and love, especially if it is simple. The first dress I made fits very much like my original garment.