Modeling the tuck fold along the neck pattern. Modeling a dress with a fold from the neck line. Converting the chest dart into the neckline into gathers or tucks

Question. Natalia! I have asked for help more than once and now I also ask you to explain how to make a pattern for such a shelf. Thank you in advance!

Answer. This model is shaped by a fold extending from the neckline. Moreover, the depth of this fold is the solution of the tuck on the convexity of the mammary glands. In fact, it is necessary to transfer the chest dart to the neck line.

Please note that the fold line does not pass through the protruding point of the mammary glands, it is slightly offset towards the center. Therefore, after transferring the tuck solution, the sections should be leveled (shown in red in the diagram). The depth of the fold should be at least 4...5 cm. If the solution of the chest dart is not enough, then the part of the shelf should be additionally cut and spread to the desired size.

The neck line can be expanded by 1 cm relative to the basic structural basis, the shoulder cut is about 5...6 cm.

We neglect the waist dart. Model in the form of a “cocoon”. The dart placed along the side cut can be reduced so that there is no excessive fit in the area of the waistline, otherwise it may disrupt the volume-silhouette shape of the model.

This dress is perfect for working in the office. And if you wear high heels with the dress, then you can easily go to the cinema or theater in this elegant dress.

The dress shown in the photo fits the figure quite tightly, so an increase of 3 cm should be given for the freedom of fit around the circumference of the chest when constructing the pattern for the base of the dress.

Dress pattern modeling

Rice. 1. Modeling a dress pattern with pleats along the neckline

Rice. 2. Modeling the bodice of a dress with folds along the neckline

Rice. 3. Dress cut details

How to model a pattern and sew a dress

Close the dart on the chest of the dress. Move the dart along the cut line.

Model the raglan sleeve of the dress, as shown in drawing 2. The raglan sleeve of the dress is sewn into the armhole of the dress, not reaching 5 cm from the bottom point of the armhole of the dress.

The front darts of the dress and the back darts of the dress are not fully stitched, forming small counter pleats.

Separately, 2 facings for the sleeves of the dress are cut out of satin, 4 cm wide, which are stitched over the sleeves of the dress along the edge.

The collar of the dress is cut out of satin using a bias thread.

Cut out the dresses

From the main fabric, cut out the following parts:

The upper part of the front half of the dress - 1 piece. with fold
The lower part of the front half of the dress is 1 piece. with fold
The upper part of the back half of the dress is 2 pieces.
The lower part of the back half of the dress is 2 pieces.
The front part of the sleeve of the dress is 2 pieces.
The back of the sleeve of the dress - 2 pieces.

Cut out from the atlas:

Dress collar - 1 piece.
Sewing dress sleeves - 2 children. with fold

Description of work:

On the front half of the dress, baste and stitch the darts. Baste and sew darts on the back halves of the dress. Place darts on the front top of the dress.

Baste and stitch the side seams of the dress, shoulder seams of the sleeves of the dress. Fold up the bottom of the sleeves of the dress at the seam allowance. Fold the satin facings on both sides, baste and stitch along the bottom of the sleeves of the dress. Thread the sleeves into the armholes of the dress up to the marks.

Finish the seams of the dress with an overlocker. Cut the edges along the armholes to 0.5 cm, process them cut from lining fabric. Iron the facing to the wrong side.

Sew a collar into the neck of the dress, fold the collar in half, stitch along the short edges, turn right side out, fold in the open edge, baste, stitch close to the seam. Fold the allowances at the bottom of the dress to the wrong side and hand-baste with a blind seam. Hand baste the sleeve allowances of the dress with a hidden seam.

A tuck is a constructive technique with the help of which a three-dimensional shape of a product is achieved and a uniform fit of a flat material of a complex body configuration is achieved. The main structural darts on the product correspond to certain convex areas of the figure. The upper dart of the shelf reveals the volume of the mammary gland and is located from the edge of the part towards the protruding point of the chest (determined on the pattern by the measurements Cg and Bg). The dart from the waist up on the front pattern is also directed to the same point. The chest dart is always directed to the center of the chest and can be moved to the armhole, side cut, mid-front line, waist, neckline, and can be replaced with tucks and gathers. To develop the design of models of complex shapes, they usually use a basic bodice base with set-in sleeves, in which darts are located from the shoulder sections of the back and front, from the side sections and from the waist line.

Transferring the bust dart to the waistline.

To move the chest dart to the waist line, mark its new position, then cut the pattern along this line and, having closed (laid) the main dart, open it in a new place (Fig. 1). Fig.1. To achieve smoothness when processing a bulge on the chest, the dart should not reach the center of the chest by 1-2cm. The dart can be sewn in completely or partially, leaving softness under the bust line. Instead of a dart along the cut of the waistline, you can design an gather. In this case, the bodice is usually lengthened by 3-5 cm to create an overlap. A soft, voluminous bodice is recommended for figures who need to hide excessive thinness. A wide tuck opening can be distributed into several shallow folds - tucks.

Moving the chest dart to the side cut.

To do this, draw the line of the intended dart on the front part from the side cut to the center of the chest and cut along the intended line. The chest dart from the shoulder seam is closed by aligning the cuts (Fig. 2, a).

Fig.2.

The dart obtained in this way, to achieve smoothness during processing, is not brought to the center of the chest by 3-4 cm. Using the line drawn from the side cut, you can model a cut flank, the contours of which form a rectangular relief line running through the center of the chest from the side cut to the waist line (Fig. 2, b). The vertical part of the relief is led along the dart of the waist line. The relief is decorated with decorative stitching and piping for expressiveness. If the product is made of striped or checkered fabric, the barrel can be cut at an angle of 45° to the warp thread.

Moving the dart to the neckline.

The dart into the neckline is designed in the same way as darts from the armhole, from the side cut, etc., i.e., the desired direction of the new dart is outlined, cut, closing the dart from the shoulder seam.

Fig.3. In this case, the chest dart is distributed between the dart from the side cut and from the neck. The waistline is formed by gathering (Fig. 3). The open dart from the neckline is connected to the dart from the armhole, and the upper side part of the bodice is cut off. The resulting relief can be decorated with decorative stitching, piping, lace, finishing buttons, snaps, and embroidery on the cutting part. The neckline dart can be replaced by two opposing folds located in front at its center. The drawing is developed according to the same rules for moving the dart into the neck. In this case, determine the position of the counter fold on the neckline, for which 2.5 cm is set aside from the mid-front line along the neckline. Draw a cutting line from the neck line to the center of the chest, cut it, chopping off the chest dart from the shoulder section with pins (Fig. 4).

Fig.4.

The pattern of the front (front) of the bodice obtained in this way is transferred to paper again, marking a counter fold in the dart solution. The neck line is marked and cut with the fold closed to obtain an accurate cut. The finished pattern is traced onto the fabric, adding seam allowances. The neckline is marked and cut only when the darts are inserted. The resulting configuration is reproduced on the fabric by adding seam allowances along the sections. Finished darts can be stitched from the reverse side, stitched along the front side of the product completely or partially, leaving a soft shape above the bust line. Instead of darts, the neckline can be decorated with gathering.

Fig.5.

Moving the chest dart into soft folds at the widened neckline.

This cut can be used for dresses and blouses made of light silk or cotton fabric. Instead of folds, the neckline is also decorated with ruffles. The model is suitable for young and slender people. To make a pattern on the basic basis of a bodice with set-in sleeves, mark a new neckline. Next, from the line of the middle front on the widened neck, lay two 3 cm. The resulting points (and the central point of the neck) are connected by straight lines to the center of the chest (Fig. 6, a).

Fig.6.

On the side cut line, set aside 3 cm from the armhole and draw a straight line from this point to the center of the chest. Clip off the chest dart and cut the pattern along the marked lines. The tuck solution is distributed evenly into the folds (Fig. 6, b).

Replacing the chest dart with puffs or pleats from the shoulder section.

The locations of the folds are marked on the shoulder cut line. The position of the first fold is 4-4.5 cm from the neckline. Then the chest line is drawn on the pattern. The position of the folds is also noted on it: for two folds, 2.5 cm are set aside from the center of the dart to the right, for three - 2.5-4 cm to the left and right. The shoulder cut points are connected to the resulting points along the chest line. The chest dart solution is distributed into the number of folds provided for by the model (Fig. 7).

Fig.7.

The folds may be soft or partially stitched. This cut is recommended for smaller busted figures to create the desired volume. In this case, folds can be replaced by gathering and puffs. For figures with large breasts, this cut (with partially stitched folds) can also be recommended, but with the aim of hiding excessive volume

Replacing a bust dart with a fold at the armhole line.

Mark a fold line parallel to the armhole to the level of the chest line and then from the armhole to the center the line of the bust dart. The pattern is cut along the marked lines, simultaneously closing the chest dart. The shoulder cut is made with the resulting fold closed at the armhole (Fig. 8).

Fig.8.

The edge of the fold can run at a distance of 1-2cm from the armhole or exactly along the armhole line. In this case, a seam allowance is added to the pattern along the armhole, and a cut is made along the intended seam for setting in the sleeve. Folds at the armhole are usually made in straight, free-form products. If the dress has a cut-off waistline, then gathers or soft folds can be placed along the shoulder section of the bodice.

Moving the bodice darts to the mid-front line.

On the bodice of the base, mark the desired direction of the dart. To do this, draw a straight line from a point located 1-2 cm below the chest line to the mid-front line at an angle. The centers of the chest and waist darts are connected. The bodice is cut along the marked lines, aligning and pinning the warp darts. The resulting tuck solution is laid towards the waist line and in this form the line of the middle front is aligned (Fig. 9).

This bodice cut is interesting for making products from striped fabrics. The mid-front line is placed on the fabric along the grain thread (and therefore along the strip). And after the dart is ground off, the strip lies on the product at an angle, along the line of the dart, connecting along the line of the middle front of the bodice in a herringbone pattern. The direction angle of the dart depends on the size of the mammary glands and the size of the waist. Therefore, when developing a bodice pattern, the direction of the dart can be found using a dummy method by pinning a fabric or paper pattern, marked with a strip, onto the figure.

Moving the bust dart to the undercut from the armhole.

At the level of 1/3 of the height of the armhole, a cutting line is marked on the base pattern. The length of the undercut should not reach 1cm from the width of the neckline. Cut the front along the intended line and close the chest dart above the undercut line, after which the dart from the armhole side will open, and the lower edge of the undercut will lengthen to form gathers (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10.

To get more gathers on the shelf, you can cut the pattern from the hem down and spread it apart on the fabric to the desired amount. Using the same principle, you can make a pattern with any shape of undercut. The location of the undercut (above or below) is determined on the figure, observing the general proportions of the product. When moving the shelf from the undercut to the side, folds can be designed in this area (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11.

Changing the silhouette of a product by transferring darts.

By moving the darts, you can change the shape and silhouette of the product. So, when transferring the shoulder dart to the waist or hip line, we get a pattern for a product with a flared silhouette (Fig. 9).

Fig. 12.

When creating a flared pattern in this way, along the side seam line you need to give an allowance in the amount of 1/2-1/4 of the allowance obtained as a result of transferring the dart.

The length of the darts is determined depending on the shape of the convexity, but it is always less than the distance from the contour of the part to the center of movement. The upper (chest) dart of the front is made 2-3 cm shorter than the distance from the shoulder to the center of the chest. The back shoulder dart is usually 7-9cm long. The length and shape of the darts are specified during fitting.

Good afternoon. We continue our dress modeling lessons. Today we will learn how to model dresses with pintucks based on our finished basic pattern.

For those who don’t yet have a basic pattern, I hasten to please: on our website you can very quickly and easily get your ready-made basic pattern, made individually for you according to your measurements.

All you need to do is go to the order page for the Basic Dress Pattern, enter the measurements you took into the form (you will find instructions for taking measurements correctly there) and click the generate button - at the same minute our program will automatically generate your individual basic pattern dresses.

The basic dress pattern is the very basis pattern from which all conceivable and inconceivable dresses are created.

Yes, all dresses in the world are created using one single pattern (that’s why it’s called basic). Each time, slightly modifying our finished basic pattern, we get a new dress model - this is called modeling. I have already described in detail how this happens in photographs and pictures in the first article.

Today we continue to learn how to model. And our new lesson will be devoted to such a modeling technique as tucks.

Let's look at what tucks are and what they are like.

Neck tucks are created by widening the pattern at the top. Most often, the pattern is cut along the edge of the neckline in several places. Then the cut pieces are moved apart like a fan, expanding the upper neck part of the pattern. When sewing, the “excess” fabric (in the expansion zone) goes into soft tuck folds - and the neckline returns to its previous (before expansion) shape.

Waist tucks are formed using the same method of expanding the pattern in the area of future tucks. The pattern is cut into two halves - the cut line into halves runs at the place of the conditional waist (“conditional” because the waist can be too high). And after that, each half is cut in several places in a fan-shape. When making cuts, it is important to understand that in which direction you want to see your folds, in this direction you need to make cuts. In the same article, just below, I will show step by step the entire process of modeling this beige dress with pintucks at the waist.

Pintucks along the bodice - are formed when the part of the bodice is cut into strips and all the strips move away from each other. And after cutting, the folds on the fabric in the places where the strips move apart are pinched (along the edges of the part) until the pinched part of the bodice becomes the same size as before it was cut.

Pintucks along the hem are formed if the hem sewing line (the upper edge of the hem part) is also cut and moved apart by the required number of centimeters. The more we expand and push the pieces apart, the thicker and more tucks will need to be made.

The tucks are vertical. Despite the apparent complexity, this type of tuck is made as simply as all the previous ones. Only this time, the front piece is first cut in half with a vertical line (the cutting line should follow the line of the border of future tucks). As a result of cutting, we get two halves of the front part. We leave one half unchanged (i.e. we don’t do anything with it), and the second will be cut in several places and expanded in a fan-shape. After cutting on the fabric, the expanded half returns to its size by forming folds at the expansion site. When the pinched half along the edge of the cut becomes the same length as it was before the expansion (that is, it is ready to join back with its half) - we connect both halves of the front part (i.e. the half gathered into folds and the half with which we did nothing about). And in the end we get this vertical drapery.

And now we will clearly look at sewing one of the dresses presented above with pintucks.

Well, here... let’s take the most understandable model for a visual demonstration...

DRESS WITH INCREASED WAIST LINE.

As we can see in the photo, our dress has tucks along the waistline, both on the bodice details and on the hem details.

You will now see how to create a pattern for such a dress model with tucks from a basic pattern. I will show and tell you everything step by step.

1 Cut the basic pattern

Since our tuck line goes along the waist, we need to cut our basic pattern into two parts along the waist line.

Cut the front pattern along the waistline.

2 Align the shoulder line on the base pattern.

The fact is that on the basic pattern we have a chest dart. In our model of a dress with tucks, there is no bust dart at the shoulder line.

For the simple reason that it is “transferred” to the waist line - that is, in human terms, we do not need to make a depression for the chest by pinching the fabric on the shoulder - because this fabric in sufficient quantity will be pinched along the waist line. It turns out that these tucks along the waistline will play the same role that a dart usually plays - that is, they will create a voluminous bulge for the chest.

Close the dart at the shoulder seam.

This always happens in any dress that has tucks on the bodice details - the dart is always “transferred” to these tucks.

Therefore, we will simply close this unnecessary dart so that the shoulder line is even. Closing a dart (without moving it) looks like this:

Measure the width of the dart with a centimeter. And we set this distance away from the edge of the shoulder, put a dot - this will be our new edge of the shoulder. And now our armhole line should go from this new edge of the shoulder. We draw the armhole line with a smooth line by eye, by hand (as in my picture).

3 Change the neckline of the base pattern.

As we know, our neckline on the basic pattern is always drawn close to the base of the neck (that is, without any neckline). And this dress will have a wider and deeper neckline. In width, it opens the shoulders at the base of the neck by several centimeters. And the neck descends into the depths, revealing the bones of the collarbone.

Modifying the neckline.

This means that on our basic pattern we also need to slightly widen and deepen our neckline. Literally 2-3 cm down and 3-4 cm towards the shoulder.

4 We outline the lines for the cuts for the tucks.

It's simple. We look at the photo and transfer the directions of the folds on the dress in the form of lines to our pattern. That is, we see that the central fold goes almost vertically upward (with a slight deviation). The second fold goes to the edge of the shoulder. The third fold goes to the armpit. This means that our three cut lines should also be directed in these directions - up, towards the shoulder, towards the armpit.

We outline the extension lines of the pattern.

We do the same with the hem detail. We look at the photo and approximately try to copy and transfer the lines of the folds onto our pattern.

5 Cut the pattern along the lines and spread it apart.

Take scissors, cut all the lines on the bodice parts and all the lines on the hem parts.

And we move them apart. The width of the extension is at your discretion.

The more you move the parts apart, the deeper ones will need to be folded in this place.

Cut the pattern along the lines and move it apart

Judging by the photo, the depth of each fold on this dress is 4 cm (as we, I hope, understand, the fold inside has two sides - each of them is 2 cm wide - in total, the width of the fabric pinched inside will be 4 cm).

6 Make a copy of the extended pattern.

In order to fix all these movements of the pattern, we place it on a new sheet of paper, move each cut apart to the required distance, and fix it with a pin to the bottom sheet of paper (so that it does not move back). And we trace such a “crucified” pattern on a sheet of paper with a pencil along the entire contour.

When tracing the “open mouth” of each cut, we must draw some kind of “mounds” (I indicated these drawings in the figure with purple arrows). Such mounds are needed so that when pinching we get a neat fold - since a tuck-fold always eats up a little of the fabric - and this “mound” added to each fold acts as a reserve of fabric for the tuck-fold.

As a result, after tracing our “crucified” pattern on a sheet of paper, we get the contours of a dress pattern with tucks ready for cutting. That is, we get a finished front of the bodice, and a finished half of the hem. And we can safely cut these details onto fabric.

In this simple way, we got a dress pattern with pintucks from a basic pattern.

7 Slightly modify the basic back pattern.

The back pattern of this dress will be the same as in the basic back pattern.

The only thing that will need to be changed in it is the neckline - as you remember, for the front pattern we slightly changed the neckline (it became wider in width). And so that the lines of the neckline and shoulders coincide (at the front and at the back) - we need to make the same width of the neckline as the front on the base back pattern.

All tucks are created using exactly the same principle: outline the lines of the folds and expand and push the pattern along these lines.

As you can see, tucks are not such a complex modeling principle as you might think at first glance.

Happy sewing.

#clothing modeling lessons #clothing designing #tuck gathering modeling #ruff designing

Good afternoon. Today we will look at such a modeling technique as folds. Thanks to this decorative element, you can make an interesting, unusual style from a basic pattern of an ordinary dress in a very simple way. But before you start modeling, you need to have your own individual classic basic pattern. For those who don't yet have their basic dress pattern, I'm happy to announce that on our website you can get one in 2 minutes. To do this, you need to enter the measurements you took on the order page for the basic pattern. And in a couple of seconds, your basic pattern will be generated by our program and, after paying for the service, you can print it even on a regular printer.

Having your basic pattern in hand, you can sew a dress of absolutely any style. And our modeling master classes will tell you what and how you can do. And, as I already said, today’s modeling lesson is devoted to folds - vertical, horizontal, oblique, conical and others.

Let's first look at what folds there are. And then I'll talk about a simple way to model them.

So, let's start in order...

The most common types of folds are vertical folds. They can be any width: very wide or very narrow (as in the pink dress in the photo below). They can be located in a certain part of the dress - for example, on a gray dress they are located only on the right side of the bodice, which creates an interesting asymmetry of the cut in this model of a strictly office dress. Or the pleats can be evenly distributed across the entire width of the dress, as on the delicate pink and blue dress in the photo collage.

Horizontal folds look very interesting. This cut fits well on thin, fragile girls. Such horizontal folds are usually stitched on the reverse side of the dress. This is done so that when washing or walking, the folds do not lose their clear linear shape.

Diagonal folds on a dress look very unusual. Of course, the process of creating them is a little painstaking and modeling such folds takes a little more time. But the process of modeling them is as simple and straightforward to use as when creating ordinary vertical folds. Such folds can be quickly created from a single piece of fabric, or some of them can be sewn separately onto the dress as decorative stripes, forming pseudo-folds (they are clearly visible at the bottom of the hem of a black dress in the photo below).

And now you will see conical folds - these are folds that narrow in the form of a cone, that is, they have the shape of an elongated triangle. They also perform a purely decorative function and are most often used on dresses made from thick fabrics. Such geometric pointed folds emphasize the texture of the fabric and highlight the rough cut lines.

On the gray dress in the photo below, such a conical fold is located at the neckline and is shaped like a turn-down jacket collar. In the graphite dress (third dress in the photo below), such folds act as bust and waist darts. And in the black dress (it’s in the middle in the photo), the conical folds act as a fan-shaped drapery.

It is better to learn how to model folds on simple-cut items and start with vertical folds. The ideal option for training would be to sew a simple dress with a one-sided pleat at the hem. Like in the photo below. This is a selection of models where the folds are directed in one direction, left or right.

And here are the dress models where the folds are in the opposite direction. These are double-leaf folds, the flaps of which look at each other. Often in such folds, for additional decorativeness, the inner side is made of fabric of a different color (as on the blue dress from the photo below).

If you don’t want to start getting acquainted with folds with a simple boring dress model with an Oxford pleated skirt (that is, you want to immediately create an interesting style), then you can complement the cut with pleats, which will be a separately sewn element.

This could be a small pleated flounce (as on the gray dress in the photo below), or a decorative folded strip of fabric sewn vertically onto the dress (see the blue model in the photo), or an interesting fan-shaped element sewn onto the bodice of the dress (boiled cherry dress below ).

And when you get the hang of simple pleated models, you can move on to more interesting styles with complex decorative pleated elements, such as these three dresses.

Well, now it’s time to try to choose one of the models presented in the photo above and show you how the process of modeling folds on a specific pattern of a specific dress occurs. That is, let's move on to the promised master class.

For the first experiment with modeling folds, we will take the very first dress from the photo in this article, a delicate pink-beige-blue dress with vertical folds.

I also chose this dress because it lets us “catch up” with “three birds with one stone” at once:

Let's make sure that modeling folds is very simple.
Let's learn how to make counter folds (and they are more difficult than one-sided folds)
Let's learn one tricky technique for quickly cutting fabric for folds.

So, let's take a look at the dress itself, its overall cut and outline. We see that if we remove the folds from it, then in essence it is an ordinary classic dress with a straight, semi-loose cut. It does not follow the curves of the body, it is not fitted, but simply taken under the strap. And we also see that it is sewn from two different pieces of material - blue fabric and fabric with a pattern in the upper part like waves. The back and side parts of the front are cut from blue fabric, and the central insert of the front is sewn from fabric with a wave pattern - it is this central insert that is gathered into folds.

The front part of the dress consists of side parts and a central insert, on which the folds are placed:

The pattern outline for this dress is created from a base pattern with a loose, almost straight silhouette. And the silhouette pattern of this dress differs from the basic pattern only in the shape of the neck (it is deeper and wider).

Based on these observations, the entire further work process follows, that is, the course of our actions to create a pattern and sew this dress.

Namely:

Let's create a pattern for the outline of the dress
Let's divide the front pattern into side parts and a central insert.
Let's calculate the number of folds and their depth
Let's enlarge and expand the central insert taking into account these folds.
Let's create and cut out the folded part directly on the fabric.
As a result, we will get ready-made parts of the dress, which will only need to be sewn together.

Look how it all happens.

1 Cut the basic pattern into segments.

We take a Basic pattern with a loose silhouette (can be a little fitted or completely straight on the sides) depending on your body type.

And directly from this pattern we draw a new neck shape that is wider and deeper. As we remember, in the basic pattern the neckline is always drawn close to the base of the neck - but we are sewing a light summer dress, so we make the neckline more comfortable for summer in depth and width.

Now that the neckline has already been cut off, we can decide where the border between the central sector of the dress and the side part of the front will be. I draw a line that goes from the chest dart area on the shoulder and along the waist darts, down to the edge of the hem.

We cut the pattern along this line and get a side front piece and a central insert.

In cross-section, the counter fold will look like this:

It will look the same on both the front side (red lines) and the back side (blue lines).

Our task is to lay the fabric in such even folds:

The back pattern of such a dress will coincide in outline with the back pattern of the Basic pattern - with the only difference being that the neckline on the back must be made the same width as the neckline on the front piece. This is necessary so that when sewing the dress, the front and back match each other at the hem seams.

2 We expand the central segment of the front pattern.

Now let's work on the central insert. As we remember, the folds will be located on it. This means that the width of our central insert must increase so that there is something to take inside these folds.

Counter folds always compress the fabric three times. Therefore, in order to place folds on our central insert, we need to increase this central insert exactly three times in width. And then when we fold this expanded insert, it (in its already folded form) will shrink back to its original outline.

Look, on our central insert there will be such counter folds:

Cut a rectangle from the fabric the same height as the central sector of our dress, and three times as wide as it.

These are the folds we need to fold our central insert into, so that there is an equal neckline.

3 Gather the fabric into folds.

At first glance, it all seems like a lot of measuring and drawing work.

But we will do it easier. We will not cut the pattern into strips - move them away from each other at the same distance - calculate the width of the folds, draw their outlines and their folds. No - this is of course possible. But it takes a long time. We will do things differently.

We will do all this immediately on the fabric - and it will be faster and easier. We will need a piece of fabric (the same one that will be used for the insert) - and we take this piece the same height as the central insert - and three times wider than it.

That is, we measure the height and width of the central insert pattern. Let’s say the central insert pattern has a height of 80 cm and a width of 30 cm. This means we cut a piece of fabric 80 cm high and 30x3 = 90 cm wide.

Gather the fabric into folds (for this it is convenient to use a long narrow strip or ruler). To prevent the folds from falling apart, they can be fixed manually with stitches connecting the folds of the folds (both on the front and back sides).

And we will fold this rectangular piece of fabric into a fold. To do this, it is convenient to use a thin wooden lath (you can buy it at a hardware store) - each fold of the fold will coincide in width with the lath - and thus all the folds will be the same in shape. Each new fold must be thoroughly ironed with an iron, or through wet gauze.

And so that when working on new folds, the old folds do not fall apart, they can be immediately fixed manually with a thread and a needle - just use a small stitch to connect the folds in 2-3 places - both on the front side and on the back side. This will make it easier for you to work and move the iron more calmly, without fear that any of the folds will catch on the iron and be ironed out of alignment.

Cut out the central insert.

Place the insert pattern on the folded rectangle and outline the outline of the neckline. And we sew a line right along this line by hand, and then on a machine.

4 Cut out the central insert.

And now from such a fixed and folded piece of fabric we will cut out the central insert. To do this, we place our folded rectangle on the table - on top of it we place our paper pattern for the central insert and with a small trace we draw the line of its neck - we draw directly on top of the folds.

And then, right on top of this line, by hand, we put a stitch - it is needed to secure all the layers of folds along this drawn line, so that they fit better under the machine stitching. Well, now we put the same seam and sew it on a typewriter - 2 times, so that it is stronger. These seams hold the neck line together (now we will cut it with scissors) and will prevent the folds from falling apart at the neck cut. And now that the neckline is secured with stitches, everything above these seams can be safely trimmed - and we will get a beautiful, even edge of the pleated neckline, with a neat line stitched in place. Then, after assembling all the details of the dress, we will process this neckline with bias tape or a strip cut from the same fabric.

And now all that remains is to sew all the details of the dress together.

5 Sew the details of the dress.

And now you can sew all the details of the dress together. First sew the front pieces - sew the side pieces to the central insert.

Then we connect the back part with the already assembled front part - we sew it in the side and shoulder seams.

Then we process the neckline - using bias tape or a strip cut from the same fabric (we sew it along the edge of the neckline, bending the cut inward).

The edges of the armholes can be processed in the same way. And at the very end, all that remains is to fold the edge of the hem. And our dress with a vertical counter fold is ready.

As you understand, folds can be modeled equally well both on a pattern and directly on a dress.

So we figured out the principles of modeling folds. Now it will be easy for us to understand ready-made patterns for dresses with pleats, and we will be able to create our own designer dress model with this elegant cut element.

Happy sewing.