A feature common to a lot of the dresses in my era/area is a row of pleats
falling from the waist at the back (but not the front or sides). I've been
using rolled pleats taken in a rectangular piece of fabric for this, and
they do a generally good jpb of giving the right look. But I've become
annoyed with them lately--when the pleat moves from side to side, it gets
these unappealing horizontal wrinkles, which really isn't the look I'm going
for. Another problem is that the line where the pleats meet the waist seam
is basically straight, whereas most images show rounded humps. (I'm too lazy
right now to upload an appropriate picture, so take a look at this for a
general idea of what I'm talking about; her sash mostly obscures the
waistline at the back, but you can still get a hint of what the area where
the pleats meet the waist seam looks like:
http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/sca/tudor/backsketch.jpg )
Right now, I'm in the middle of making a version of this, my first
intentionally English dress ever:
http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/sca/tudor/english.jpg (though I'm going to put off
making that heawear--oy)
(I won't go into detail about why I'm pretty sure that the back of this has
the back pleats as seen in the first link; suffice it to say that I feel
reasonably confident based on other paintings.) Anyway, I went ahead with
my normal rolled-pleats version, but the horizontal wrinkle problem was even
worse than usual, so I have just officially gotten fed up and decided to try
something new.
I'm thinking of using organ/pipe pleats instead, taken in a piece of fabric
that's closer to a semi-circle. (Well, several put together, probably.) I'm
hoping that will fix the problem of wrinkling, and give the
big-fat-rolls-with-curved-tops look; the semi-circle will mean that I'll
still have a hefty amount of hem, as shown in most images.
I've never played with this style of pleat before, though. Has anyone on
the list messed about with it much? I'm thinking I may want to shape the
edges of the roll (picture a cylinder cut off at an angle) rather than just
stick it on there at a 90 degree angle, but I'm not sure if it's worth the
bother. Also, I definitely plan to stuff each pleat, but I have yet to
figure out what stuffing to use. A roll of fulled wool? Wadding of scrap
fabric? Each roll should be at least 1" in diameter, so we're talking about
some significant stuffing. I'm also worried about avoiding a ridge where
the stuffing ends; I want the skirt to fall naturally to the ground, rather
than going out while over the stuffing, but straight down where the stuffing
ends.
(Sigh--I'd already stitched the rolled pleats in place and called it done;
sooo much work I'm making for myself now! And people wonder why I rarely
get things 100% finished.... At least this one has a must-be-wearable-by
date, which may help.)
-E House
PS--I'll be using this dress to test my theory on the purpose of those white
bands. I _think_ I've got it, or at least a good possibility, but I won't
know until the pleats are settled!
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