Pleat

Last updated
Catholic clergymen wearing pleated rochets Rochet Plissage.JPG
Catholic clergymen wearing pleated rochets

A pleat (plait in older English) is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference. [1]

Contents

Pleats are categorized as pressed, that is, ironed or otherwise heat-set into a sharp crease, or unpressed, falling in soft rounded folds. Pleats sewn into place are called tucks.

Types

Accordion

Knife pleat Knifepleat.svg
Knife pleat

Accordion pleats or knife pleats are a form of tight pleating which allows the garment to expand its shape when moving. Accordion pleating is also used for some dress sleeves, such as pleating the end of the elbow, with the fullness of the pleat gathered closely at the cuff. This form of pleating inspired the "skirt dancing" of Loie Fuller. [2] Accordion pleats may also be used in hand fans.

Box

Box pleats Boxpleats.svg
Box pleats
Double box pleats 2boxpleats.svg
Double box pleats

Box pleats are knife pleats back-to-back, and have a tendency to spring out from the waistline. [3] They have the same 3:1 ratio as knife pleats, and may also be stacked to form "stacked-" or "double-box pleats". These stacked box pleats create more fullness and have a 5:1 ratio. They also create a bulkier seam. Inverted box pleats have the "box" on the inside rather than the outside.

Cartridge

Cartridge pleats Cartpleats.svg
Cartridge pleats

Cartridge pleats are used to gather a large amount of fabric into a small waistband or armscye without adding bulk to the seam. This type of pleating also allows the fabric of the skirt or sleeve to spring out from the seam. During the 15th and 16th centuries, this form of pleating was popular in the garments of men and women. Fabric is evenly gathered using two or more lengths of basting stitches, and the top of each pleat is whipstitched onto the waistband or armscye. Cartridge pleating was resurrected in 1840s fashion to attach the increasingly full bell-shaped skirts to the fashionable narrow waist. [4] [5] [6]

Fluted

Fluted pleats or "flutings" are very small, rounded or pressed pleats used as trimmings. [7] The name comes from their resemblance to a pan flute.

Fortuny

Fortuny pleats are crisp pleats set in silk fabrics by designer Mariano Fortuny in the early 20th century, using a secret pleat-setting process which is still not understood.

Honeycomb

Honeycomb pleats are narrow, rolled pleats used as a foundation for smocking.

Kick

Kick pleats are short pleats leading upwards from the bottom hem of garments such as skirts or coats, usually at the back. They allow the garment to drape straight down when stationary while also allowing freedom of movement.

Kingussie

Kingussie pleats Kinguissie pleats.svg
Kingussie pleats

Kingussie pleats, named after the town in Scotland, are a very rarely seen type of pleat used in some Scottish kilts. They consist of a single centrally located box pleat in the rear of the kilt with knife pleats fanning out on either side.

Knife

Knife pleats are used for basic gathering purposes, and form a smooth line rather than springing away from the seam they have been gathered to. The pleats have a 3:1 ratio–three inches of fabric will create one inch of finished pleat. Knife pleats can be recognized by the way that they overlap in the seam. [3]

Organ

Organ pleats are parallel rows of softly rounded pleats resembling the pipes of a pipe organ. Carl Köhler [8] suggests that these are made by inserting one or more gores into a panel of fabric.

Plissé

Plissé pleats are narrow pleats made by gathering fabric with stitches, wetting the fabric, and "setting" the pleats by allowing the wet fabric to dry under weight or tension. Linen chemises or smocks pleated with this technique have been found in the tenth century Viking graves in Birka. [9]

Rolled

Rolled pleats create tubular pleats which run the length of the fabric from top to bottom. A piece of the fabric to be pleated is pinched and then rolled until it is flat against the rest of the fabric, forming a tube. A variation on the rolled pleat is the stacked pleat, which is rolled similarly and requires at least five inches of fabric per finished pleat. Both types of pleating create a bulky seam.

Watteau

Watteau pleats are one or two box pleats found at the back neckline of 18th century sack-back gowns and some late 19th century tea gowns in imitation of these. The term is not contemporary, but is used by costume historians in reference to these styles as portrayed in the paintings of Antoine Watteau. [10]

Modern usage

Clothing features pleats for practical reasons (to provide freedom of movement to the wearer) as well as for purely stylistic reasons.

Shirts, blouses, jackets

A girl wearing a pleated plaid skirt. (Tekkoshocon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2010) Tekkoshocon 2010 cosplayer with Mahora Academy Middle School for Girls winter uniform from Negima.jpg
A girl wearing a pleated plaid skirt. (Tekkoshocon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2010)

Shirts and blouses typically have pleats on the back to provide freedom of movement and on the arm where the sleeve tapers to meet the cuff. The standard men's shirt has a box pleat in the center of the back just below the shoulder or alternately one simple pleat on each side of the back.

Jackets designed for active outdoor wear frequently have pleats (usually inverted box pleats) to allow for freedom of movement. Norfolk jackets have double-ended inverted box pleats at the chest and back.

Skirts and kilts

Skirts, dresses and kilts can include pleats of various sorts to add fullness from the waist or hips, or at the hem, to allow freedom of movement or achieve design effects.

Trousers

Jumpsuit with pleated legs. Jumpsuit with pleated legs - front.jpg
Jumpsuit with pleated legs.

Pleats just below the waistband on the front of the garment are typical of many styles of formal and casual trousers including suit trousers and khakis. There may be one, two, three, or no pleats, which may face either direction. When the pleats open towards the pockets they are called reverse pleats (typical of khakis and corduroy trousers) and when they open toward the zipper, they are known as forward pleats.

Utilitarian or very casual styles such as jeans and cargo pants are flat-front (without pleats at the waistband) but may have bellows pockets.

Pleated trousers were popular before World War II; fabric rationing during the war precluded the style, and flat front became the standard by necessity of cloth shortages.[ citation needed ]Pleated pants, especially of the double reverse pleat variety, were commonplace in the 1980s and 1990s, but by the late 2000s they had fallen out of favour. [11]

Pockets

A bellows pocket is patch pocket with an inset box pleat to allow the pocket to expand when filled. Bellows pockets are typical of cargo pants, safari jackets, and other utilitarian garments.

Pleated blinds

The pleated blinds are curtains made of a dense fabric that folds up in an accordion when lifted. The model was developed in Germany in the middle of the 20th century. Today pleated blinds are popular all over the world due to their functionality, variety of design and effective protection from sunlight.

  1. Woodblock print of sunray pleated folding fan, Japan, 19th century
  2. Afternoon costume with box pleated skirt and unpressed box pleated bodice panel, France, 1886
  3. Fortuny pleated Delphos gown, 1917
  4. Knife-pleated kilt with pleats sewn down to the hip line, 2005
  5. Organ pleated gown, Florentine, 1470
  6. Tea gowns with Watteau-pleated backs, Russia, 1899
  7. Fustanella - Balkans men's garb with pleats

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilt</span> Skirt-like garment worn with Scottish Highland dress and sometimes more broadly

A kilt is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill-woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish Highland dress for men, it is first recorded in the 16th century as the great kilt, a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak. The small kilt or modern kilt emerged in the 18th century, and is essentially the bottom half of the great kilt. Since the 19th century, it has become associated with the wider culture of Scotland, and more broadly with Gaelic or Celtic heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skirt</span> Clothing worn from the waist or hips

A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skort</span> Shorts made to look like a skirt

A skort is a pair of shorts with an overlapping fabric panel made to resemble a skirt covering the front and back, or a skirt with a pair of integral shorts hidden underneath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pocket</span> Small compartment in clothing

A pocket is a bag- or envelope-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items. Pockets are also attached to luggage, backpacks, and similar items. In older usage, a pocket was a separate small bag or pouch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabardine</span> Tough, tightly woven fabric used to make suits, trousers and some other garments

Gabardine is a durable twill worsted wool, a tightly woven fabric originally waterproof and used to make suits, overcoats, trousers, uniforms, windbreakers, outerwear and other garments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petticoat</span> Skirt-like undergarment, sometimes intended to show, worn under a skirt or dress

A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing, a type of undergarment worn under a skirt or a dress. Its precise meaning varies over centuries and between countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1890s in Western fashion</span> Costume and fashion of the 1890s

Fashion in the 1890s in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by long elegant lines, tall collars, and the rise of sportswear. It was an era of great dress reforms led by the invention of the drop-frame safety bicycle, which allowed women the opportunity to ride bicycles more comfortably, and therefore, created the need for appropriate clothing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delphos gown</span>

The Delphos gown is a finely pleated silk dress first created in about 1907 by French designer Henriette Negrin and her husband, Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (1871–1949). They produced the gowns until about 1950. It was inspired by, and named after, a classical Greek statue, the Charioteer of Delphi. Since the 1970s, these gowns have been desirable and collectable pieces of vintage clothing, with one selling for a world record price of $10,000 in December 2001.

Clothing terminology comprises the names of individual garments and classes of garments, as well as the specialized vocabularies of the trades that have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold clothing over hundreds of years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1820s in Western fashion</span> Costume and fashion of the 1820s

During the 1820s in European and European-influenced countries, fashionable women's clothing styles transitioned away from the classically influenced "Empire"/"Regency" styles of c. 1795–1820 and re-adopted elements that had been characteristic of most of the 18th century, such as full skirts and clearly visible corseting of the natural waist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Placket</span> Opening in the upper part of certain clothing

A placket is a finished opening in the upper part of trousers or skirts, or at the neck, front, or sleeve of a garment. The finish frequently consists of a fold of fabric that is attached to the opening in order for the fasteners to be sewn to it. In modern usage, the term placket often refers to these double layers of fabric.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1700–1750 in Western fashion</span> Clothing in Europe and areas under its influence from 1700-1750

Fashion in the period 1700–1750 in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by a widening silhouette for both men and women following the tall, narrow look of the 1680s and 90s. This era is defined as late Baroque/Rococo style. The new fashion trends introduced during this era had a greater impact on society, affecting not only royalty and aristocrats, but also middle and even lower classes. Clothing during this time can be characterized by soft pastels, light, airy, and asymmetrical designs, and playful styles. Wigs remained essential for men and women of substance, and were often white; natural hair was powdered to achieve the fashionable look. The costume of the eighteenth century, if lacking in the refinement and grace of earlier times, was distinctly quaint and picturesque.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gather (sewing)</span>

Gathering turns the edge of a piece of fabric into a bunch of small folds that are held together by a thread close to the edge. Gathering makes the fabric shorter where it is stitched. The whole of the fabric flares out into irregular, rolling folds beyond the gathered stitching. Gathering can be done by hand, with a machine, automatically, with elastic, or through channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Back closure</span> Means for fastening a garment at the rear

A back closure is a means for fastening a garment at the rear, such as with a zipper, hooks-and-eyes or buttons. Back closures were once common on Western female clothing, but have recently become less so, especially on female casual and business attire. They continue, however, to be widely used in underwear, formal wear and specialized clothing. Back closures are also common in garments for infants and toddlers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuck (sewing)</span>

In sewing, a tuck is a fold or pleat in fabric that is sewn or fastened in place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sack-back gown</span>

The sack-back gown or robe à la française was a women's fashion of 18th century Europe. At the beginning of the century, the sack-back gown was a very informal style of dress. At its most informal, it was unfitted both front and back and called a sacque, contouche, or robe battante. By the 1770s the sack-back gown was second only to court dress in its formality. This style of gown had fabric at the back arranged in box pleats which fell loose from the shoulder to the floor with a slight train. In front, the gown was open, showing off a decorative stomacher and petticoat. It would have been worn with a wide square hoop or panniers under the petticoat. Scalloped ruffles often trimmed elbow-length sleeves, which were worn with separate frills called engageantes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trousers</span> Clothing for the legs and lower body

Trousers, slacks, or pants are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separately. In the United Kingdom, the word pants generally means underwear and not trousers. Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only to around the area of the knee, higher or lower depending on the style of the garment. To distinguish them from shorts, trousers may be called "long trousers" in certain contexts such as school uniform, where tailored shorts may be called "short trousers" in the UK.

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic Era. Although usually associated with clothing and household linens, sewing is used in a variety of crafts and industries, including shoemaking, upholstery, sailmaking, bookbinding and the manufacturing of some kinds of sporting goods. Sewing is the fundamental process underlying a variety of textile arts and crafts, including embroidery, tapestry, quilting, appliqué and patchwork.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overskirt</span>

An overskirt is a type of women's short skirt which is draped over another garment, such as a skirt, breeches, or trousers. Although peplum is often used as another term for overskirt, it should not be confused with the peplos or "peplum dress", which was worn in ancient Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mamianqun</span> Traditional Han Chinese skirt

Mamianqun, is a type of traditional Chinese skirt. It is also known as mamianzhequn, but is sometimes simply referred as 'apron', a generic term in English to refer to any Chinese-style skirt, or 'paired apron' in English although they are not aprons as defined in the dictionary. The Mamianqun is a type of qun a traditional Chinese skirt worn by the Han Chinese women as a lower garment item in Hanfu and is one of the main representative styles of ancient Chinese-style skirts. It originated in the Song and Liao dynasties and became popular due to its functionality and its aesthetics style. It continued to be worn in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties where it was a typical style of skirt for women and was favoured for its unique aesthetic style and functionality. Following the fall of the Qing dynasty, the mamianqun continued to be worn in the Republic of China, and only disappeared in the 1920s and 1930s following the increased popularity of the cheongsam. As a type of xifu, Chinese opera costumes, the mamianqun maintains its long tradition and continues to be worn nowadays. In the 21st century, the mamianqun regained popularity with the emergence of the Hanfu movement. The mamianqun has experienced various fashion changes throughout history. It was typically paired with ku, Chinese trousers and Chinese jackets, typically either the ao or gua.

References

  1. Picken, Mary Brooks, The Fashion Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls, 1957, pp. 256–257
  2. Valerie Cumming; Valerie Cumming, C.W. Cunnington, P. E. Cunnington; C. W. Cunnington; P. E. Cunnington (1 September 2010). The Dictionary of Fashion History. Berg. p. 1. ISBN   978-1-84788-738-2 . Retrieved 10 January 2012.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 Picken, Mary Brooks, The Fashion Dictionary, p. 257
  4. Tozer, Jane and Sarah Levitt, Fabric of Society: A Century of People and their Clothes 1770–1870, Laura Ashley Press
  5. Arnold, Janet: Patterns of Fashion: the cut and construction of clothes for men and women 1560–1620, Macmillan 1985
  6. Arnold, Janet: Patterns of Fashion 1 (cut and construction of women's clothing, 1660–1860), Wace 1964, Macmillan 1972.
  7. Caulfield and Saward, The Dictionary of Needlework, p. 212
  8. Köhler, Carl: A History of Costume, Dover Publications reprint, 1963
  9. Owen-Crocker, Gale R., Dress in Anglo-Saxon Englandrevised edition, Boydell Press, 2004, ISBN   1-84383-081-7, p. 42, 218
  10. Picken, Mary Brooks, The Fashion Dictionary, pp. 257, 370
  11. "Don't Fear the Return of Pleated Pants". Bloomberg. 17 May 2018.

Sources