Fortuny Pleats
Initial Experiments
February 2021
Mariano Fortuny is my favorite designer ever. I have been mesmerized by his pleated Delphos gowns as well as his metallic stenciled velvets. The process of how his silk pleats were lost to time, though its not impossible to replicate the look. There is something organic about the shape and movement of the pleats that suggests perhaps a guide was used, but perfection in the stitches was not a necessity.
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Long story short, I have made it my mission to replicate the pleats for myself in order to have my very own Delphos gown. Below is an image of the first Delphos dress patent. Many other styles of sleeve emerged later on, but this gives me a good insight to the general construction of the final dress.
Initial Tests
The first step in this process is to figure out the size and shape of the pleats. All of Fortuny's gowns were made from 100% silk. Because silk is a natural fiber, and is not a thermoplastic fiber like polyester, the pleats weren't technically permanent. The dresses would frequently need to be send back to Fortuny to be re-pleated. Surviving dresses, if kept properly still hold their pleats very well. The real mystery isn't how the pleats were sewn, but rather how the pleats can stay even semi-permanently even nearly 100 years later.
For these experiments, I will be using polyester for a couple of reasons: silk is expensive and these dresses use a lot of fabric, and polyester can easily be heat set into almost any shape. There are two variables I am testing in these initial experiments, albeit probably not done in the most scientific manner. The first is the weight/thickness of the satin being used, and which weight will give the best effect. The second is to test different stitch widths and stitching line spacing to achieve similar sized pleats to extant garments.
Attempt 1:
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Iridescent polyester satin was pleated with 1/2 inch stitches.
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Stitching lines every 3 inches.
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Once pleated, it was steamed for 45 minutes and left to cool.
Notes:
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Some dye bleeding occurred while steaming though luster seemed unchanged.
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Pleats ended up being too large and too irregular; little care was taken while gathering down the fabric.
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Iridescent polyester satin was pleated with 1/4 inch stitches.
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Stitching lines every 1 1/2 inches.
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Once pleated, it was steamed for 45 minutes and left to cool.
Attempt 2:
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1/4 inch pleats seem to be the closest to images of original garments.
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Some puffing occurred in between the stitching lines, so an extra one was sewn in to make sure the pleats were uniform and stayed in place while steaming.
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If the stitching lines were placed every 1 inch instead of every 1 1/2 inches, then this extra line of stitching ​probably won't be needed.
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Notes:
Attempt 3:
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Black polyester lining was pleated with 1/4 inch stitches.
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Stitching lines every 1 inch.
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Once pleated, it was steamed for 45 minutes and left to cool.
Notes:
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Pleats turned out very crisp, but the fabric is significantly thinner than the first two attempts.
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Taping down the ends on the stitching threads helped immensely when gathering down the fabric.
Attempt 4:
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Black polyester lining was pleated with 1/8 inch stitches.
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Stitching lines every 1 inch.
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Once pleated, it was steamed for 45 minutes and left to cool.
Notes:
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Much too small. So small in fact that it was extremely difficult to pleat down at all.
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The final effect was more of a gathering stitch than individual pleats.
Large sample test:
Large sample test:
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Red polyester satin was pleated according to instructions of attempt 3.
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The fabric has a nice drape. It is thicker than the lining satins used in attempts 3 and 4, but thinner than the first two attempts.
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One side of the fabric is shiny while the other is matte.
Notes:
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Wonderful drape and movement.
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This was scrap fabric I got from my department, so unfortunately I don't know which specific kind of polyester satin this is.
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This weight, thickness, and luster of this satin are the ideal choice for replicating the effects of silk.