A pleat ( plait in older English) is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference.
23-409: Pleats are categorized as pressed , that is, ironed or otherwise heat-set into a sharp crease, or unpressed , falling in soft rounded folds. Pleats sewn into place are called tucks . Accordion pleats or knife pleats are a form of tight pleating which allows the garment to expand its shape when moving. Accordion pleating is also used for some dress sleeves, such as pleating the end of the elbow, with
46-411: A pan flute . Fortuny pleats are crisp pleats set in silk fabrics by designer Mariano Fortuny in the early 20th century, using a secret pleat-setting process which is still not understood. Honeycomb pleats are narrow, rolled pleats used as a foundation for smocking . Kick pleats are short pleats leading upwards from the bottom hem of garments such as skirts or coats, usually at the back. They allow
69-404: A 5:1 ratio. They also create a bulkier seam. Inverted box pleats have the "box" on the inside rather than the outside. Cartridge pleats are used to gather a large amount of fabric into a small waistband or armscye without adding bulk to the seam. This type of pleating also allows the fabric of the skirt or sleeve to spring out from the seam. During the 15th and 16th centuries, this form of pleating
92-469: A panel of fabric. Plissé pleats are narrow pleats made by gathering fabric with stitches, wetting the fabric, and "setting" the pleats by allowing the wet fabric to dry under weight or tension. Linen chemises or smocks pleated with this technique have been found in the tenth century Viking graves in Birka . Rolled pleats create tubular pleats which run the length of the fabric from top to bottom. A piece of
115-463: A patent in the United States for improvements to the ironing board, allowing for better quality ironing for shirt sleeves. A tailor's ham or dressmakers ham is a tightly stuffed pillow in the shape of a ham used as a mold when pressing curves such as sleeves or collars. Commercial dry cleaning and full-service laundry providers usually use a large appliance called a steam press to do most of
138-423: A smooth line rather than springing away from the seam they have been gathered to. The pleats have a 3:1 ratio–three inches of fabric will create one inch of finished pleat. Knife pleats can be recognized by the way that they overlap in the seam. Organ pleats are parallel rows of softly rounded pleats resembling the pipes of a pipe organ . Carl Köhler suggests that these are made by inserting one or more gores into
161-400: Is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat , which is outerwear . Some jackets are fashionable , while others serve as protective clothing . Jackets without sleeves are vests . The word jacket comes from
184-455: Is also known as a clothes iron, steam iron, flat iron, smoothing iron or iron box. On 15 February 1858 W. Vandenburg and J. Harvey patented an ironing table that facilitated pressing sleeves and pant legs. A truly portable folding ironing board was first patented in Canada in 1875 by John B. Porter. The invention also included a removable press board used for sleeves. In 1892 Sarah Boone obtained
207-409: Is not contemporary, but is used by costume historians in reference to these styles as portrayed in the paintings of Antoine Watteau . Clothing features pleats for practical reasons (to provide freedom of movement to the wearer) as well as for purely stylistic reasons. Shirts and blouses typically have pleats on the back to provide freedom of movement and on the arm where the sleeve tapers to meet
230-463: The 1980s and 1990s, but by the late 2000s they had fallen out of favour. A bellows pocket is patch pocket with an inset box pleat to allow the pocket to expand when filled. Bellows pockets are typical of cargo pants, safari jackets , and other utilitarian garments. The pleated blinds are curtains made of a dense fabric that folds up in an accordion when lifted. The model was developed in Germany in
253-513: The French word jaquette . The term comes from the Middle French noun jaquet , which refers to a small or lightweight tunic . In Modern French , jaquette is synonymous with jacket . Speakers of American English sometimes informally use the words jacket and coat interchangeably. The word is cognate with Spanish jaco and Italian giacca or giacchetta , first recorded around 1350s. It
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#1732883722740276-456: The bonds between the long-chain polymer molecules in the fibres of the material. While the molecules are hot, the fibres are straightened by the weight of the iron, and they hold their new shape as they cool. Some fabrics, such as cotton, require the addition of water to loosen the intermolecular bonds. Many modern fabrics (developed in or after the mid-twentieth century) are advertised as needing little or no ironing. Permanent press clothing
299-460: The cuff. The standard men's shirt has a box pleat in the center of the back just below the shoulder or alternately one simple pleat on each side of the back. Jackets designed for active outdoor wear frequently have pleats (usually inverted box pleats) to allow for freedom of movement. Norfolk jackets have double-ended inverted box pleats at the chest and back. Skirts , dresses and kilts can include pleats of various sorts to add fullness from
322-447: The fabric is heated, the molecules are more easily reoriented. In the case of cotton fibres, which are derivatives of cellulose , the hydroxyl groups that crosslink the cellulose polymer chains are reformed at high temperatures and become somewhat "locked in place" upon cooling the item. In permanent press pressed clothes, chemical agents such as dimethylol ethylene urea are added as crosslinking agents. Jacket A jacket
345-483: The fabric to be pleated is pinched and then rolled until it is flat against the rest of the fabric, forming a tube. A variation on the rolled pleat is the stacked pleat, which is rolled similarly and requires at least five inches of fabric per finished pleat. Both types of pleating create a bulky seam. Watteau pleats are one or two box pleats found at the back neckline of 18th century sack-back gowns and some late 19th century tea gowns in imitation of these. The term
368-438: The fullness of the pleat gathered closely at the cuff. This form of pleating inspired the "skirt dancing" of Loie Fuller . Accordion pleats may also be used in hand fans. Box pleats are knife pleats back-to-back, and have a tendency to spring out from the waistline. They have the same 3:1 ratio as knife pleats, and may also be stacked to form "stacked-" or "double-box pleats". These stacked box pleats create more fullness and have
391-452: The garment to drape straight down when stationary while also allowing freedom of movement. Kingussie pleats, named after the town in Scotland , are a very rarely seen type of pleat used in some Scottish kilts . They consist of a single centrally located box pleat in the rear of the kilt with knife pleats fanning out on either side. Knife pleats are used for basic gathering purposes, and form
414-433: The middle of the 20th century. Today pleated blinds are popular all over the world due to their functionality, variety of design and effective protection from sunlight. Ironing Ironing is the use of an iron , usually heated, to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases from fabric . The heating is commonly done to a temperature of 180–220 °C (360–430 °F), depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening
437-467: The waist or hips, or at the hem, to allow freedom of movement or achieve design effects. Pleats just below the waistband on the front of the garment are typical of many styles of formal and casual trousers including suit trousers and khakis. There may be one, two, three, or no pleats, which may face either direction. When the pleats open towards the pockets they are called reverse pleats (typical of khakis and corduroy trousers) and when they open toward
460-457: The work of ironing clothes. Alternatively, a rotary iron may be used. Historically, larger tailors' shops included a tailor's stove, used to quickly and efficiently heat multiple irons. In many developing countries a cluster of solid irons, heated alternatively from a single heating source, are used for pressing clothes at small commercial outlets. Another source suggests slightly higher temperatures, for example, 180-220 °C for cotton When
483-452: The zipper, they are known as forward pleats . Utilitarian or very casual styles such as jeans and cargo pants are flat-front (without pleats at the waistband) but may have bellows pockets. Pleated trousers were popular before World War II; fabric rationing during the war precluded the style, and flat front became the standard by necessity of cloth shortages.Pleated pants, especially of the double reverse pleat variety, were commonplace in
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#1732883722740506-472: Was developed to reduce the ironing necessary by combining wrinkle-resistant polyester with cotton . The first known use of heated metal to "iron" clothes is known to have occurred in China. The electric iron was invented in 1882, by Henry Seely White . Seely patented his "electric flatiron" on June 6, 1882 (U.S. Patent no. 259,054). The iron is the small appliance used to remove wrinkles from fabric. It
529-463: Was popular in the garments of men and women. Fabric is evenly gathered using two or more lengths of basting stitches, and the top of each pleat is whipstitched onto the waistband or armscye. Cartridge pleating was resurrected in 1840s fashion to attach the increasingly full bell-shaped skirts to the fashionable narrow waist. Fluted pleats or "flutings" are very small, rounded or pressed pleats used as trimmings . The name comes from their resemblance to
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