Burda Marie Sew-A-Long- Pleats?

Yes, I actually sewed something. A little something. I am playing catch up on my Burda Marie skirt but since I was up at 4 AM I didn't catch all the way up. Sewing and sleepy don't mix. Nevertheless I got the interfacing cut and ironed on and sewed my pleats.

I have got to be the world's slowest sewist (say that fast). Everything I check and double check and check again and check a website and a book. Just do it gosh darnit!!! Well, I wouldn't go that far but it seems like every step takes an hour of research if I don't quite get it. Perhaps it will pay off down the road but it really slows progress which can be demotivating.

The pattern said to baste all of the markings. I didn't do that but I gave it shot with the pleats to see if it would help me line them up better. One side I did the basting (since I marked the wrong side of the fabric anyway and the other I just used my tracing paper markings and retraced on the correct side. The verdict. Basting wasn't necessary. It was easy enough to line up but much quicker to just use the paper markings and no picking out of the basting when done.

Even though I am participating in the sew-a-long I wanted to take a closer look at the pleats step because the hostess said she had a WT? moment when she looked at some of the instructions.

The instruction was this:

Pleats
Lay and stitch the pleats one by one, starting at a pleat at the side. Fold the skirt so that the fold lines of the first pleat meet, right sides facing. Pin the pleat lines onto each other from the top ending at the arrow line. Stitch. Secure seam beginning and end (a). Then lay The other pleats in the same manner and stitch. Press the fold towards the side seams (b). Pin the pleats to the upper edges of the skirt.

Using my trusty Reader's Complete Guide to Sewing and looking at lots of finished pics of the skirt I made sense of it. Basically it comes down to whether or not you stitch down (waist to hip) each pleat and then across all pleats at the top or only stitch across the top of all of the pleats. I see this as matter a matter of personal preference for where you want the poofiness to begin. I am glad that the hostess said that she had a moment of confusion because it caused me to really take a look at what was going on instead of blindly following.

So that is what is done thus far. It seems like it took forever and not that long at the same time. Not sure how that is possble.

Until next time!!!