#knife pleats

[tweefiend]

Rose melberg dump!!

[steampunkmarquise]

1882 fashion plate from La Mode

[feysplendent]

Misguided Tutorial : anime school girl skirt : Part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Time to make knife pleats! 

Step 8: Hot dog fold your fabric from Part 2 as shown in photos above. Re-iron your crease if needed. We will call the “bottom” where the crease is, and the “top” where the two edges of fabric come together. 

Step 9: Use something flat, stiff, and around 1.25 inches wide*. I used a metal ruler. You can do without this, but it makes the process much faster. You want to pinch the top with one hand and the bottom with the other, flip your guide, and pin it at the top as shown. 

Step 10: Once you have all the pleats pinned, take a moment to measure the length. This measurement should be larger then your hip measurements. If it is not, something has gone wrong!* You will want it to be at least 4 inches extra. More is good! We can always trim excess length at a later stage. 

Step 11: Iron your pleats. Iron on steamer mode if you have. If you do not, keep a close eye on the temperature of your fabric. Take it slower, and use a damp towel between your iron and fabric if needed. 

Step 12: Sew a line at the top using a quilting needle. Yes, the needle type on your machine matters. A dull or wrong shape needle might damage the fabric and ruin your hard work.

Step 13: Test your skirt around your hips. View in a mirror, take photos at different angles. Now is the time to adjust the length as needed. To adjust the length sew another line below your primary line, as shown in last photo. Once you have sewn this line you can trim fabric away. If you need the back longer then the front, decide where you will want the closer to sit. I personally like to shift my closure to the back once I put my skirt on. 

Notes: 

* If you want to be super precise on your pleats, set out a ruler beside the top while you form them. You can also decrease or increase this measurement as needed to match the look of your character. 

* If your measurement is only a LITTLE short, you can save yourself by putting a small amount of gap between each pleat to earn you back some length. In other words, don’t start the pleat right where the last one ends. Give it like 1/8 or 1/4 inch of space. It changes the look a little but can help you in a crunch.

[feysplendent]

Misguided Tutorial : anime school girl skirt : Part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 FInal

Time for the Hard Part: (you can do it)

Step 24: Put a pin in the waistband or mark it in some non-permanent way while doing a test wear. Set it on the ground and line it up to where you marked. Where the fabric overlaps, it should make V shape, as shown in the photo*. 

Step 25: Under the second pleat is where the skirt will eventually come together. Identify which pleat it naturally lines up with underneath. 

Step 26: If you lifted the “bottom” of the fabric, you can see how the pleats come together. They should make a “ >< “ shape, with your pins going where the red arrows point to. Put some guiding pins in place. You should not see them when the skirt is in the “wearing” position. The pleats should hide them entirely. 

Step 27: Open up the waistband area, and undo the top couple pins. With the zipper in the closed position, pin your zipper in place. 

Step 28: Test wear, careful not to stab yourself on a pin. Adjust your zipper as needed. If you have excess fabric, it may look a little bulky near the zipper. Don’t worry, we will trim that later. Take your time on this part. 

Step 29: Hand sew your zipper in place. 

Step 30: Flatten your pleat out of the way with your hand. Sew with a machine, starting from the bottom, up to and meeting where your zipper starts. 

Step 31: Flip your skirt inside out, and look at how much excess fabric you have. If you have a large amount, feel free to trim it as shown above. Leave enough for you to do a simple hem*. 

Step 32: Hand sew some hook and eyes at the waistband. If you’re low on time, you can use velcro instead. I do two at least, as seen in some of my photos. You can install multiple eyes to make the skirt adjustable. 

Step 33: Taadaa you’re done! Check for any missed hems and finish them with some hand sewing or “fray check” glue as needed. Try to store it with the pleats in mind or you will have to iron the pleats to make them crisp and sharp again. 

Notes:

* On the back, at the bottom of the first pleat, you may want to sew a single line at the bottom or install a snap to keep the pleat from floating out further from the rest. When you do a test wear, if you do not see this “floating”  then you’re in luck! You can skip this optional step. If you look at my first photo, you may spot the extra small line of sewing I did to fix this problem on mine. (It is to the left of the red V)

* How you hem this is up to you. Just make certain the fabric won’t start fraying on you, since it is broadcloth. You don’t want to loose all your hard work because a tear forms from a fray. People wont see it, so it just needs to be functional, not pretty. 

[ajturner132001]

Me in my first skirt.

[pullout-d]

[studio-helsinki]

[feysplendent]

Misguided Tutorial : anime school girl skirt : Part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 COMPLETED

Doki Doki Literature Club : progress photos : Part 1  /

Materials Needed: 

- blue broadcloth* and a matching thread 

- iron-on interfacing of the “lightweight” stiffness*

- A zipper somewhere around 4~6 inches long 

- Eye and hooks

- sewing machine, quilting machine needle, iron, ironing board, scissors

Measurements Needed: 

- hip measurement. Take this measurement where you would like the waistband of the skirt to rest at. For some people this will be closer to a standard “waist” measurement. During the tutorial I will call it a hip measurement for convenience.  

- length measurement. Take this measurement from your ‘hip measurement’ spot down to where you would like the skirt to end. Take this in the front AND the back. If they are different, take the longer number. You can easily make this shorter down the line. Do this one in front of a mirror or with help.

Notes: 

* How much broadcloth and interfacing to buy? Take your hip measurement, times it by three. Convert that to yards and add half a yard for safety. That should be really close to what you need.