Pleating Done on Summer Garden Heirloom Dress

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to start an heirloom dress similar to one featured in Gail Doane's book, Sew Cute Couture, called Summer Garden.  I posted a picture of the dress featured in the book and also a picture of the fabric I selected.

I just finished pleating the skirt fabric with my Amanda Jane Pleater.  I have 18 rows of pleats.  The top and bottom rows are holding rows.  My next step will be to block the pleats to the specified size.

Below are a lot of pictures showing the process of pleating the fabric. I interfaced the area to be pleated as suggested in Gail's book.  It helped tremendously.  I marked a line 3/8" from the edge of the fabric and lined that up against the first groove of the pleater.  I have the fabric rolled on a dowel rod and inserted into back of pleater.  The rest of the explanation will be under the pictures.

Thanks for reading,

Marla

Beginning to pleat fabric.

Fabric is pleating nicely!

Just another picture as pleating continues.

Every so often the pleats have to be manually pulled off pleater needles.

Getting close to end.

The end is in sight!

Very close to being done!

Beginning to pull fabric from pleater needles.

Beginning to pull threads out of pleater needles.

Front side of fabric after pleated.

Threads on one end are tied together.