Ok. It's really pleated- but doesn't it look smocked? It started out as my experiment into smocking and though I did that correctly, I think (by hand, no pleater) it just didn't look right. So I tried this. I am working with a rectangle of fabric (dimensions are 17"length x 14 1/2" width) First, I finished the top edge by folding over twice and machine hemming with a small hem. Ok, then the pleating begins- it's good to use either a stripe or a check for this to keep pleating regular. You can see from the pics that I didn't baste, I just pinned and then ran it through the machine. I started about 1" from the finished edge at the top and made my first pleat about 1 1/2" from the edge. The pleat itself was about 1/2" wide, but I didn't measure that, I just used the lines of the fabric- established a pattern and followed it. I pinned it and made sure I liked the fullness of the pleats, then tacked it down using a standard stitch on the machine. For the next line of pleats, I came down another inch, but chose a different line to start the pleating on ( a line in the center of the first row of pleats.) This is what causes the even rows of puckers in the top. for the third and final row, I followed the same pattern as the top row. I tried not to make the pleats too close to the edges of the fabric in order to allow myself a seam allowance to sew the panel into the top. Then I hunted for a princess seamed pattern that I could fit the panel into, then I lengthened the torso. I used New Look 6268, but that's a few years old by now. Just find a pattern that has princess seams. The next posting will tell how to finish the top.
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