Pleating problem? No its solved!

The past few days have been all about making the medieval skirt for The Wife of Bath. Following the design it has more the look of a tudor style than medieval. Once I brought this up with the designer we decided that if I pleat the top of the skirt with small knife pleats it will keep the shape the designer would like as well as creating more of a medieval look, as well as this I must keep the front panel flat. I decided to drape this piece on the stand once again as after a day of experimenting, I found it a welcomed challenge which I hoped to overcome as well as seeing the mistakes strait away which I could correct.

I have found that if I drape on the stand I can see the garment form and manipulate it to what is needed however when pattern drafting on paper it is more tricky to see the mistakes due to the flat form. I have found that I am more of a visual person and learn more from studying and forming an actual object rather than looking at a flat object.

At first I practiced with various pleats around the side of the waist, starting with a 6cm pleat then going down to a 4cm and a 2cm. The 6cm pleat was quite large and added to a tudor style look whereas the 4cm pleat started to bring the fabric volume into a more robust medieval shape. It was suggested by my tutor that I try a 2cm pleat as it would fit the waist more and give the extra volume needed to make the character look larger than she is. After experimenting with calico for all three I then started to use scrap material of the fabric I started using for the actual skirt to see if the pleats would be easily placed or if it would need stiffening using starch or washed to make softer. It was decided from these experiments that the 2cm pleats would give the bulk in the skirt needed as well as keeping the waistband slimmed and flat, making sure the actress will be comfortable. Also the top fabric was to remain untouched. I found that it was malleable enough that it didn't need either washing or starch, with a hot iron the pleats remained intact.

2cm Pleats

4cm Pleats

6cm Pleats