Riviera Pleated Top, Japanese Printed Cottons
The Sewing Workshop was lucky enough to host a great group of garment sewers in Eureka Springs in April for a fun three-day workshop. Several of the participants wanted more detailed instructions on how the pleating was done on left front of this Riveria Shirt made from Japanese cotton.
View Similiar 100% Cotton Japanese Patchwork Fabrics: 25-414-6 (Teal & Violet), 25-714-1 (Blues), 25-214-2 (Brights)
I pleated the fabric before cutting out the left front. Since this is cotton, it was easy to just chalk-mark the pleat lines and then fold at the pressing board to get nice crisp pleats. I used my favorite marking tool, the Chalkoner. Then I pinned the pleats across in intervals and basted across to hold until the construction was complete.
To mark the front facing edge, turn 3/8 to wrong side for narrow hem and edge stitch hem in place.
Mark next line 1 7/8 wide and then 2 wide—this will be the front facing fold. Mark all other lines 1 1/2 apart.
Make a peak-fold between 2 line and first 1 1/2 line. Match this fold edge to next chalked line. Continue in this fashion until the pleated fabric has enough width to fit the Left Front piece. You most likely will have to piece the fabric widths together to get enough width since cottons tend to be around 45 wide. Try to hide the seam in one of the pleats. I needed a width of around 55 to get a pleated width of 20" which was enough to cut the left front.