Sophie Rogerson : Pleat Pleat Pleat

This week, I was given an introduction to the art of pleating by Terry Weinart of Ciment Pleaters. Working with designers such as Zandra Rhodes and Alexander McQueen for more than 40 years; Ciment Pleaters has a vast backlog of clients and an even vaster portfolio of pleating techniques and patterns. I spent the workshop exploring the many samples of pleating patterns and fabrics created by the company. Each pleated piece of fabric is created by applying heat to the fabric whilst sandwiched between cardboard pleated patterns and works best on polyester fabrics. I created my own pleating pattern by accurately drawing a series of intersecting lines using my pattern master and then scoring these. I then folding along the lines to create a repetitive pattern of shapes. I then took a length of cotton-polyester blend fabric and used the patterns to pleat it. This technique is very time consuming but definitely worth the effort as it achieves a original, fitted look and can be applied to basic patterns quite easily. I was very inspired by this technique as I loved the intersecting lines and endless possibilities of different pleats.