How To Cosplay: Pleated Skirt

This is a written instruction on how to make pleated skirt.

Pleat skirts are especially useful in School uniforms cosplays and can be found in almost every other series. They are also a personal favourite of mine because 1. They usually compliments the figure well 2. wearable outside of cosplay 3. Plus they are super easy to make!

Pleated skirt comes in many different forms and are usually differentiated by how the pleats flow and the width of the individual pleats.

This tutorial focus on the basics of making a pleated skirt and acts only to give a basic introduction to making a pleated skirt.

It would be your job to make sure you are sewing the right type of pleat skirt for your costume!

Materials Needed:
A big piece of fabric:
            Width:  (Length of skirt + hems)
            Length: (waist length x 2.5) 
A long rectangle fabric:
            Width: 4”
            Length: (waist length +2”)
1 Zip (5-6”)
1 skirt clasp
Tools Needed:
1. Scissors
2. Pins
3. Tailor chalk
4. Sewing machine
Measurement and Project explanation:
This tutorial shall focus on making a one way flow pleat skirt with 1” pleats and 1½ “ skirt band .
Length of skirt:
How long the skirt is to be, measured from waist down
Pleated-ness of skirt:
How full do you want the pleats to be. The usual formula is the length of your waist x 2.2 (try 2.5 to be save).
*tips: though pleats may compliment most figures, it balloons some. Make sure you create something that fits your figure and the character you're cosplaying. Don't end up with skirts that make your hips look hippo-ish and don't end up with limpy skirts either.
*tip2: Make sure the pleats are full enough to cover the hips! It wouldn't look nice if they space out too much at the hip area.
Also important, is how thick do you want the skirt band to be. The usual formula is below
Skirt band = (desired width x 2) + 1.5”

How to Begin:
STEP 1:
Start by cutting your cloth up in long rectangles. If your cloth is long enough to cover the full length then good for you. Otherwise cut 2 pieces of the cloth and sew them together.

Before you start sewing, interlock the edges of all the cut fabric'
STEP 2:  
Now pleat the fabric. Use pins to secure them then iron press them to keep the shape! For ease of work. Sew a sparsely spread out stitch along the top of the pleated cloth to hold the pleats together.

In this example, I’m making pleats that face one direction (Called the ‘Knife Pleats"’).

STEP 3:  
Now that you have the pleats in hold. Time to sew the zip! This is a bit tricky so proceed cautiously.

1. Flip the zip over and pin the left side of the zip to the right outer side of the skirt. Remember to leave around ½ inch of space from the top. Sew as close to the centre of the zip as possible without running into the teeth.
2. Do the same for the other side of the zip.
3. Your zip now should face the outer side. Check to see if everything looks alright. Of course, make sure your zip is facing the right side!

STEP 4:  
Now that your zip is nicely attached, gather both fabric and sew up the skirt! Remember to sew a little over the bottom of the zip to cover the ends nicely

 
STEP 5:  
Time to sew the skirt band! The simplest method would be to sew the 3 layers (band, skirt, band) together.

Remember to give 1 inch of spare skirt band at one end of the rim so you can sew your hook on it and your skirt band will overlap nicely.
Sew the hook onto the band and you’re done!
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If written instructions are not your thing, watch these 2 videos below to better understand =)

Part 1

Part 2