Pleat After Pleat.....

I finished pleating the skirt of the bed. I worked out this system to make box pleats. I thought it would be faster than using pins or a regular pleater. It was somewhat. I don't think that there is any way to speed pleat. If you want to try it, this is how I went about it.

I measured from the floor to the top of the bed blocks. With the teak beads under it, it was 1 7/8" high. Then I proceeded to cut lots of little pieces of index card 1/2" X 1 7/8". Then, keeping it as straight as I could with the pattern on the fabric, I cut a strip about 3' wide all across the width of the 45" material. With silk that is 36" you need all of the width to do a standard bed, so I figured to save time, I would just do the whole width in pleats and then cut off what I didn't need. I did have some left over. Not a lot though.

Next I laid out the fabric face down. If I didn't have any experience I would have marked with a pencil all across 1/8" from the edge for the hem. I had to cheat on the first photo. I accidentally deleted it from the camera and the computer both. I had to take a photo of how the layout goes after I was done. Here you see the fabric with a ruler laid on top. Since I had half inch strips, I decided to put them a half inch apart. I simply put a light coating of white glue on the back of each strip and laid it 1/8" from the bottom edge. That part becomes the hem in the next step.

Glue up the hem all along the bottom. Then one at a time, run glue down the sides of two of the strips and push them together. The fabric will push up in between them. Then you can press them down on both sides to form a box pleat.

Since my bed is 4 1/2" wide I knew that the half inch pleats would fall right without any gaps. When I finished the pleating and let it dry a bit I started in the center of the pleats and stood that up in the center of the foot of the bed. It fit, so I put fast grab on the bed itself and put the skirt against it and pinned it in place. Then I proceeded to do each of the sides and wrapped about an inch around the top end and glued and pinned that in place.

At this point, the top end of the skirt should be standing straight up all around. Let it dry thoroughly before trying to miter the corners of the excess and gluing them down to the top. The next step will be the mattress. That will be tomorrow.

As I was finishing this part and getting ready to show you a photo. I heard mumbling on the other side of the bed. Tessie popped her head up over the edge and I knew she was up to no good. She said sweetly "May I pose with the pleats?". I said she could. What could it hurt?

Then I saw what she was up to. She had her pocket full of purple headed pins. She was quietly replacing all of the pins that I had put in the skirt with "puce" ones.

She hopped up in the bed edge and I thought she was pointing to the piece that I had left over...... I think that, in reality, she is pointing proudly to the puce pin that she just pushed into the side of the bed. Please note the white one laying on the board to your right. She is not terribly careful of where she discards the "icky white and yellow" pins. I noticed that they are going to have to be picked up after she finishes.....Her last suggestion was that I buy all new pins, pick out the pretty puce ones and throw out the rest.

I don't think that is going to happen.....Only about five puce pins to the package. By the time I finished buying pins and picking out the puce, I would probably have spent enough on pins to buy her a mansion! When I told her that, she started wandering around the board, sadly picking up the other pins.....Then she brightened up considerably, saying "Where's the puce paint left over from my bedroom? YOU could paint them!" She doesn't know how close she is to going back into the glass box!

See you tomorrow.