I am spreading the long-awaited MK at the request of the workers. Everything described below was collected from available sources on the Internet, I have not been specially trained in pleating anywhere.
To create a pleated canvas, we need a drawing paper, the number of sheets and their size depends on whether you are going to make a skirt or any detail for decoration, fabric, iron building meter, large paper clips, Moment Crystal glue, a needle, knife, pencil, scissors, cotton or linen cloth for the iron in the case of an iron, thread, sewing machine and overlock, iron (I use with a steam generator), some heavier weight for the press (books, the same sewing machine will do).
I'll tell you more about the tools. Whatman paper can be in sheets of different formats A1, A0 and rolled Whatman paper 1.20m × 10m, I use this one for my forms, because it suits me more, with it you can make shapes for any length of skirts.
A metal building meter is needed to accurately mark the folds, because deviations are not permissible, otherwise the form will not fold and go to waste, wooden, plastic rulers will not work.
Glue is needed to glue the Whatman sheets together.
The knife should be either an old blunt one, or use the other side of it.
With a steam generator, steam pleats will turn out much faster than with an ordinary iron, because there the steam comes out under very high pressure. The household iron will take longer and it is advisable to weigh it down with something, or you will have to press hard on it.
It is better to take the fabric with synthetics in the composition of at least 50%, if you decide to make pleats from natural fabrics, then for them only dry cleaning. I do not use any special impregnation compounds in this manufacturing method. Fabrics can be different in texture, then in density: chiffon, tulle, synthetic silk, satin stretch, thin knitwear, thin dress fabrics with good drape, gabardine, eco-leather. I will use chiffon in MK.
To begin with, we will cut the Whatman paper, for the form you will need to make 2 identical sheets, the short side is the length of your skirt or finishing part + 3 cm in reserve, as much as possible, long = (hip circumference + 5 cm) × 3 for skirts, for finishing- cut length (e.g. yoke line) × 3.
On one of the sheets, on two long sides, draw lines 1.5 cm from the edges.
We mark the future folds, from the edge we mark with dots on the line with the edge 1 and 2 cm, then every 2 cm we make serifs, as in the photo. We mark with a sharp simple pencil as accurately as possible.
We combine the two sheets together and press down with weights so that they do not move in any way. We pierce with a needle all points on both sides of the form.
Press the lines of the folds with the blunt end of the knife along the punched points on both sheets of the form.
We bend the shape along the pressed lines. We glue the sheets with glue, the glued seam of the upper and lower parts of the form must match.
We put the upper part of the form into the lower one, all the folds should converge, and the form should fold. I specially moved the upper part a little so that it could be seen.
Next, we begin to steam the form with folded folds so that it becomes elastic and does not tear later. I do this with a steam generator, if you have an iron, then first moisten the cotton iron in water, wring it out, put it on the mold in 3-4 layers and stagnate the folds with an iron at the maximum temperature without steam.
Let the form dry, you can put it on the battery or next to it to dry faster. Then we straighten all the folds with an iron or a steam generator on both parts of the mold, so that the fabric then lies flat.
Now we need to prepare the fabric. If the composition contains cotton, viscose, wool, silk, then rinse and dry it beforehand so that later the fabric does not shrink, iron it, cut out the panels according to their sizes - total width of the canvas = (About + 5cm) × 3, length = Du + hem + 1cm per seam. The approximate consumption of fabric for a skirt at Ob = 94 cm and Du = 65 cm, with a fabric width of 1.5-1.4 m, 1.5 m is required.
I always cut off the edges of the fabric, cut the chiffon along the pulled thread so that there are no distortions.
We process the bottom of the skirt, I will do it with a rolled seam on the overlock, on other fabrics you can also overcast and hem by hand, or by machine, as well as with a "Moscow seam".
Next, we put the fabric in the mold, spread the fabric on the lower part, cover it with the upper part of the mold and begin to lay the folds, carefully so as not to distort the fabric.
I put 6 pieces first and fix it with paper clips on both sides, put a load in the middle of the form so that the folds do not "leave", steam it thoroughly (if you use an iron, then after 3-4 layers of a wetted iron at the maximum, the folds are well filled with an iron), here I put a press on the folds, I have a long board, I put something heavy on it, I wait 10 minutes for it to cool down, then it’s fashionable to lay a larger number of folds at once in this way, I get 12 and so on until the fabric runs out.
Then again I walk through the already assembled form without steam and put it under the press, also the boards, and on them weights. All this dries for about 8 hours, if an iron was used, 4-5 after the steam generator, then you can take it out and the pleat is ready.
Wash such a fabric at 30 ° by hand, do not twist, hang dry, iron very carefully with a dry iron without steam, carefully collecting folds. I will explain why I do not use all sorts of compounds and impregnations, supposedly intended to fix the folds. Any composition will be washed off during washing, and the fold is not held at all due to it, but from the fact that during the steaming process the synthetic fiber is sintered at a high temperature in the place of the fold.
