Seamless Pleating Tutorial

Seamless Pleating Method #1

I am going to cover two methods of seamless pleating. I have used simple batiste because it was on my cutting table. And serendipitously there were two colors. At first I thought that would be a pain and then realized it was perfect. So it is two colors so you can better see where the seam would occur.

Seamless pleating can be used anywhere you need to combine two pieces of fabric and don't want the bulk or worse the "bump" of the seam to show for example a bishop or an insert for an older child that needs a tad more than 45" fabric to not look so s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d after construction. I know as Bunny commented on the butterfly bishop that you can push your French seam into the groove of the rollers as you pleat. For me, it works great for 3 out of 4 seams. Invariably the one seam it didn't work is on the front. Ticks me off every time. So I prefer seamless pleating.

And as always click on the pictures to enlarge.

Your first piece goes through the pleater as you would any other.

My first piece you can see has cleared the pleating rods.

Insert your second piece making sure that the tops are even, or in other words your top edge is lined up on the same location on the pleater rod. We often use the grooves in the rod as a landmark. Use the same groove for you second piece of fabric.

The two pieces after they have been taken off the pleater. Ignore the pleat "boo-boo" to the right. I was obviously not paying attention and must have pulled on it. See I even let you see my mess ups. I'm not proud.

Mark your seam allowance.

Choose the pleat closest to your seam allowance and mark the peak of the pleat. See what my pleating boo boo caused? That is how I know I must have been pulling on the fabric as it was feeding. Probably had the fabric between my thumb and forefinger right there at the center. But all that aside, this is a sample and I wasn't re-pleating it. Mark your peaks closest to your seam allowance.

I have pushed my pleats back together and you can see the pleat marked that signals my seam allowances.

Smock up to your seam, here my needle has pierced that LAST pleat I will stitch on my first piece of fabric.

Take your next stitch on the FIRST marked pleat of the second piece of fabric. Try your best to maintain a consistent tension. It will be a tad challenging since you are squeezing together 2-5 pleats. Don't fret it, trust me it will all come out okay.

Here I have completed the smocking. I know it is just 5 rows of cables but come on, I am just showing you, not stitching a masterpiece here. It is obvious on the left where the seam will be. On the right is the back of the piece.

Now remove your gathering threads. Take a deep breath, it is okay! Wait for the magic.

Voila! Look at that seam allowance pop up there as if by magic I tell ya!

Flip it over and your stitches look even. If the colors of the fabric didn't change you wouldn't be able to tell there was a break there. It is that easy. Now go back and stitch a seam on your marked seam allwance. Get as close as you can without stressing over it. You smocking is going to maintain your seam allowance.

Seamless Pleating Method #2

Again I have used two different color fabrics for better illustration. Mark the seam allowances on your pieces. Begin feeding first piece of fabric through the pleater normally being more careful than I was in the previous example to feed evenly and slowly enough to control it but not so slowly you wear yourself out before you get to the fun part.

When you come to the end of the second piece it should like the picture above.

Pull the piece OFF of the pleater. Relax, it will be okay, I promise. Pull your gathering threads out of the seam allowance. Leave gathering threads on the front.

DO NOT RE-THREAD YOUR PLEATER YET. Begin feeding second piece of fabric making sure again to have the top lined up with the same groove you used as a landmark on your first piece.

Here is the part you can't get too zealous or you will get ahead of yourself. Feed the fabric slowly onto the UNTHREADED needles, smooth out the seam allowance. Turn your pleater handle just enough to get your fabric to the end of the needles without going off.

Carefully without bending your needles or pulling too hard on your fabric, clear the fabric off of the needles just up to your marked seam allowance. Stand up straight and take a deep breath and stretch your neck. Remember to breath.

NOW re-thread your pleater needles being careful to keep them in the same order. How do I know that this is important you ask? You will have a hot mess if you rethread the needles in a random order and not the one that matches your first piece of fabric. Trust me, been there, done that.

Continue to feed your next piece of fabric. See how the seam allowance has fallen to the back allowing your fabrics to meet up and kiss? If you are doing a bishop you will repeat this process for all four seams. I think it is worth it.

This is the two pieces off the pleater. No visible seam.

Turn it over and there is your seam allowance waiting for you. You can go ahead and stitch your seams now if you want.

To finish the raw edges of your seam allowance you can roll and whip it by machine, finish it with a zig zag or do a mock French seam.

To do a mock French seam, stitch your seam with a straight stitch close to your smocking. Then trim one side of the seam allowance to 1/8". I fold the second side of the seam allowance over half way, fold again letting the folded edge meet the machine stitching of your straight stitched seam, making sure to encase the seam allowance you trimmed to 1/8". Whip stitch down.

I hope this helps you. Try it and see if you like it.