Pleatwork Embroidery

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How to make a pleated ground for your embroidery

It would be wonderful to be able to say: "I want to make this style of shirt with this type of embroidery, so I will need this much fabric". This is difficult because how much fabric you require is dependent on the finished dimensions of the piece, the number of pleats you need for the design (esp. if its counted), the amount of fabric you have to pleat into this finished area, the thickness of the fabric and how narrow the resulting pleats need to be.

When reconstructing period garments this becomes even more difficult to replicate. The fabrics that would have been used for pleated embroidered garments varied by availability and by class. A peasant would not have the same fabric available to them, as would a merchant class or a noble class. Such fabrics as fine silk and linen lawns would have most likely been used for the finely pleated garments such as some of the shirts and chemises. Heavier linens and even wools would have possibly been used for some of the coarser garments.

Regardless of fabric type, it is trial and error to figure out how much or how little to pleat up your fabric. To help some of this, put it in perspective of a ratio between fabric width before pleating vs desired width, the number of pleats you need for the design and the desired depth of the pleat. Think more in terms of how much pleated fabric you need to accomplish your design.

For example:
45" Wide starting fabric to pleat to 10", this means that you need to have about 4.5" of fabric pleat into 1" when gathered up to the fullness you desire. If in that 1" space you will have a very detailed pattern you will need to place your running stitch to pick up the pleats closer together probably about 1/2" this would give you 9 or 10 pleats/inch with the pleats being about 1/4" deep. If you are doing something with less pleating, along the lines of a deep honeycomb pattern then your running stitches might be an 1" long, giving you 4 pleats or so per inch finished with a 1/2" pleat depth. Again this is all relative to the weight of your fabric and the desired outcome. Experiment !! Make sure your rows are sufficiently close enough together to provide a solid ground for your embroidery. Too far apart and the pleats will move when working on them.

Pleating the Fabric
You will see a number of different ways to pleat up the fabric. One way is to do a full running stitch, with the stitches equal distances apart, basically a basting stitch or gathering stitch, very much like you would do cartridge pleating.

The "picking up the dots" method would have you mark out dots or pinpoints equal distance across the fabric. Then the running stitch "picks up the dots”. Some people use plastic canvas to mark out the even dots instead of using the conventional dot transfer paper.

Commercial pleaters of course can be used they make very small very fine even pleats. This is good for many of the shirts and chemises. For coarser fabrics or deeper pleats one a pleater will not be usable. The biggest drawback to a pleater is the fixed pleat size.

The horizontal rows are spaced according to the needs of the pattern. They are actually your guide for the embroidery. The bit of material left above the gathering threads are just enough fabric for your stitches to go through in the conventional smocking stitches. NOTE: It is important not to catch your gathering threads in your stitches. This will make it almost impossible to pull the threads out or give the finished work the "float" on the threads for ease.

Stitch Glossary

I have included this small section in order to provide some reference to the modern smocking stitches that are also documentable in embroidery pre 1600's.

Backstitch shown through pleats. Also indicated are the gathering threads. This is also called running stitch in modern smocking terms and could be the stitch used for the blackwork on the pleats.

Stem Stitch / Outline stitch, this is done in the same manner as it is with embroidery on a flat ground, the difference is that with each stitch a new pleat is picked up. This is possibly what would be used for any back smocking.

The honeycomb stitch is basically 2 satin stitches placed together then done through alternating rows in order to form the honeycomb shape. The thread is carried between the rows on the underside of the pleat.

Surface honeycomb is executed the same way as the regular honeycomb but the thread is carried on the top surface of the pleat instead of underneath it. This is a possible alternative for some of the honeycomb-shaped fabric manipulations.

I have included this diagram of chain stitch done over pleats as a representation of what could have been used. The chain stitch is well documented in period.

This is the trellis stitch as it is modernly called. It is basically executed like the outline stitch except that it is done on a diagonal. It can be done to any length and will create v shapes, diagonal lines and diamond patterns on the pleated fabrics.

Information on Smocking from : http://www.princetonpleaters.org/web/newhome.asp

stitch diagrams on line at : http://www.princetonpleaters.org/web/Stich_Glossary_Smocking.asp