What A Weekend

It was the weekend of the Prom. Up at dark thirty on Saturday morning, drank half a gallon of strong coffee, and off to decorate (with about 30 other folks) for the annual shindig. It was great. The dresses were beautiful, and the refreshments were divine. And, oh yes, one of my Random Teenagers wore a tuxedo for the very first time. He likes to make his mama cry. It seems like just yesterday I pushed and shoved birthing that 9 pound baby.....

At any rate, I haven't done any sewing at all. But I did manage to get rid of the Really Loud Music Headache from last night and work on this pleat pattern problem I've been having.

In case you've been reading the comments, here's a photo of what patsjean was describing (well, I'm pretty sure it was patsjean, but I'm really too pooped at the moment to verify it-thanks!).

You take a piece of paper and pleat it, like so:






Then you cut the desired angle, like so:





And when you open it up, you have a pattern, like so:




Mine's not even (too tired at this point to pick up the ruler), but you get the idea. And that's exactly the technique I'm going to use on my pattern.

It looks like an awful mess at this point, doesn't it?




I just wish I had stock in the 3M Company, those wonderful folks who manufacture Scotch tape. I'd be a millionaire, instead of just being out of tape.

Back to the Inherent Design Problem with the pattern. There are three problems, actually.

One, of course, is the bottom hem shape. By the time I got to that point the other day, I knew the thing wasn't going to work out right and I simply didn't care enough to perfect it.

Two is the pleats aren't vertical. Now why couldn't I see that to begin with? I am such a dumb bunny sometimes. And I just know that there are at least a hundred REAL patternmakers laughing their heads off and telling their friends about this stupid woman down South with her paper and Scotch tape....

Three is the shape of the bottom section, which nobody pointed out. The problem is that I based this on an A-line shape but you can't evenly pleat an A-line shape so that the pleats are consistent around the body. If you go look at the last post pictures you'll see what I'm talking about. There is a little angled "wing" piece that is unpleated on the right side of the front (and there would be the same thing going on in the back).

My solution? I have redrafted this on a straight sheath style. I've gotton the front pieces pretty much done and I'm way too tired to do any more tonight, so I'm off to bed.

My question is, Will This Work?