Fabric Manipulation :: A Lost Art

My favourite part of making clothes is by far the manipulation of fabric and materials. It's a pliable medium that changes from one fabric type to another. A satin chiffon is 100% different from a wool tweed. The way you manoeuvre it is completely different to get the results you want. You always have to work with the fabric, not the other way around. 

I've been always fascinated with what fabric is capable of doing. One of the most fascinating techniques is pleating. I could never really understand the fundamentals of it. It's a bit too technical for my brain. Theres a certain trance-like feature to heavily pleated garments. It's difficult for our eyes to translate it cohesively for our brain to understand, despite the simplicity of it. They're just 3D patterns after all. 

In mainstream fashion, we don't really get the opportunity to touch base on the REALLY amazing things professional pleating artisans are able to create. We're kind of stuck with the plain directional pleats that don't really add much dimension to the garment. 

Take a look at this introduction video to get a glimpse of what true pleaters are capable of (video is in french). It's truly unfortunate that were losing the art of making garments.

Enjoy the video! I definitely did.