How to Invert Drape Pleats

Making Inverted Pleats

• 1

  On an 8½-by-11-inch sheet of paper, mark off five 1-inch segments with dots along the long edge. Fold the first dot back to meet dot three. Fold the fifth dot back to meet dot 3. Fold the paper edges of each side forward from dot 3. You have just created a single inverted box pleat. if you continue to fold in this pattern using drapery fabric, the width of the pleated fabric will be half the original length of the piece. It is possible to adjust the width of the pleats to use less fabric and exactly fit your window.

• 2

  Mark the wrong side of the fabric panels along the top edge into 1-inch segments. Fold into pleats as described above. Pin each pleat into place. It is possible to reduce the width of the pleats on the wrong side by not folding all the way to the center (dot 3 in the example above).

• 3

  Baste stitch across the top edge, securing each pleat into place. The pleats on the reverse side will be the same width as the pleats on the front side, unless an adjustment was made. Press along the top edge of the fabric panel to secure the basted pleats in place.

• 4

  Stitch along the basted seam close to the top edge of the panel, using an invisible thread. Stitch again, 4 inches below this seam to define the drapery header and firmly secure the pleats.

• 5

  Attach drapery hooks by hand at the center of each pleat in the header on the wrong side of the panel. The drapery is now ready to hang.