Cartridge pleating and seam finiahing questions

[chargirlgenius]

Cartridge pleating question

I'm planning on cartridge pleating the sleeves onto Jeff's gown. I've never cartridge pleated before, though I'm sure I can handle it. I have a slight problem, in that the edge of the armhole of the gown was finished assuming that I would have a seam allowance (I hadn't thought about cartridge pleating when I did it).

I know that you're supposed to sew the pleats directly to the edge of the fabric. Is it worth me refinishing that edge (maybe folding it over, etc.) or can I pleat the edge of the sleeve to a arm hole with a seam allowance?

I'm also toying with the Elizabethan sewing technique of finishing all of the edges first. The sleeves are fully lined. I've sewn one of the silk sleeves shut, but I didn't finish the raw edges first, so I'm not sure if this is going to work. Perhaps I should have sewn the flat lining to the flat silk, first? I have another technique I'll probably do, along the sleeve length seam, at least. Stitch the layer of lining down in the ditch, folk it over, and then whip the other half of the lining down. As far as I know, though, this isn't documentable, but a more modern tailoring technique.



Brief explanation: The black lines are the silk, and the red lines are the linen. Stitches are left out. The two silk pieces are sewn together with a running stitch. The bottom (straight) red line is sewn to the silk with a running stich that comes out in the seam of the silk, thus hiding it from view. The second (top, bent) red line is sewn to the first lining, and maybe to the seam allowance of the silk, but not all the way through, with a whip stitch.

For the sleevehead, I might just sew the sleeves right side together, for my nice finished edge. I was looking at attack-laurel's description of the process, and she suggests sanwiching them together, right sides out, and doing a running stitch. Only trouble is, this is a significant curve, and I'm not sure how I can avoid seam clipping. Maybe it doesn't matter so much, as a good portion of the sleeve will be cartridge-pleated in to my armhole, but maybe there's a better way?

*sigh* I have lots of ideas, but so far, none of them are jumping out as exactly right, or right without any problems (self-caused or inherent). I'm open to thoughts from people who have used these techniques.

Comments

[sskipstress.livejournal.com]

I have found that working by hand and pulling the fabric, I can do a narrow rolled hem or a folded over narrow edge (when using fulled fabric or covering with a lining) quite easily. And in your situation, that's probably what I'd do with the armscye and the sleevehead, then I'd pleat them, then I'd whipstitch the two together.

Your lining technique is actually kinda similar to the 2nd-to-last lining technique here (http://heatherrosejones.com/archaeologicalsewing/linen.html#Linen) (gah, a click here, they're going to take away my web developer license)

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking I'll do a narrow double hem on each the lining and the silk, whipstitch them together, and then pleat them (and then stitch that to the gown).

I'm not seeing the lining technique that you're referring to. There are so many variations though, and so little that's documentable to this particular century beyond a straight up running stitch...

[sskipstress.livejournal.com]

It's the one labelled: " [finishing lining when fabric continues] Modified running stitch of (main fabric folded RST & lining single-folded toward fabric) (Fig. 57)"