A little pleated skirt help from you seamstresses?

[~boogiepop~]

Hey all, I'm starting on my Cassandra Alexandra costume for the 4th god damn time and I wanted a little input from anyone who has made a pleated skirt before I go off and ruin some more casa satin.
Some reference before I begin with my questions.
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/soulcalibur/images/6/6d/CassandraSCIIRender.jpg
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/soulcalibur/images/0/05/Sc2-cassandra.jpg

First off, I know casa satin might not be the best thing to use, but I need the damn thing to match the top and I needed something that could be form fitting and light, yada yada.

Everyone says pleated skirts are easy, but I'm just not getting it. But, to my question, first off should I be doing box pleats or knife pleats for this outfit? It obviously looks like a knife pleat to me, but from doing it so far, it's always come out looking like a piece of crap because the pleats aren't even. I started making a pleater board for box pleating but I'm not sure if box pleats will give the look I am going for in the costume. They would just fall straight and look kinda dumb right?

Second off if the answer is knife pleats, what can I do to make sure that my pleats are even and nice? Is there a secret to this?!?! I am just terrible at measuring apparently because I'll spend hours planning out my pleats and it still all just looks really bad.
I was using this tutorial to make a pleater board http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/how-to-make-a-pleater-board/technique_steps/1 Do you think this was modified it would work for making knife pleats?

Anyways, thanks to anyone who can help me. I'm still terribly new to this sewing thing and this has been giving me a lot of problems. Hopefully, after this, I will be the master of pleated skirts.

As an afterthought, I'm also looking for a pattern for the top. Does anyone know something off the top of their head that they have used that resembles this at all? I've been looking in pattern books for about a year now and most of them have: 3 panels for the front, one for each side, and two for the back. The middle part on the front is way too big on all of them and I'm scared as hell to mod it and then find out I screwed up the whole way it fits. If I am able to find something that just has darts, it's usually too big in the neck and too big in the sleeve parts to work. I feel better about altering that to work but I just wanted to see if anyone just happened to use something like this before.

Thanks again~!

[pencil]

To me it looks like one large box pleat in the front, with knife pleats radiating out in different directions on each side. Well, it also might just be knife pleats all around, but I think that using one box pleat would make it look nice.

I don't know exactly how to explain making pleats even. To make 2 inch pleats, you should measure out 4 inches like | | | | | and then fold the 4th line down to the second line, measure out 4 more inches, repeat. I don't know if that makes any sense, but I hope it helps!

[~boogiepop~]

Thanks for the help Dorothy! I think I want to try doing the one box pleat thing, gah, my brain is overloading from all the pleat talks I have gotten from people. And that makes sense about the pleats. I get how they are suppose to work, I just never seem to be able to do them right. BIG GUTS THOUGH, maybe doing this for the 4th time I'll finally figure it out.

[Kurohime]

I can't make heads or tails out of what kind of pleats that picture is supposed to have.  But box pleats are prettier!  I did knife pleats for my Shinigami outfit last year- you don't have to make a pattern, if you know how to measure it right.  For mine, it was 2 inches, 2 inches, 2 inches, and I pinned the hell out of it to make sure it was right before sewing.  Now that I think about it, I think I did box pleats for a valance a few years ago...

I don't know how good you are at visualizing this stuff in your head- but I definitely recommend getting some practice fabric (an old sheet or something) until you are more comfortable with the process.  And probably get some lightweight interfacing (or fusible webbing) to help stiffen the pleats up once you make them.  And from the picture, it looks as though they are sewn shut about halfway down, so that will be fun. 

[xRIxKUx]

YOUR FINALLY DOING IT!!!!!!! About Time! xD Uhh..
 It looks like the blue panels are 2 box pleats, and the rest are knife pleats... Not sure, but that's what I think xD As for keeping pleats even.... I just get lucky. Make your pleats, measure and adjust x3

[princessmoon]

I'm a fellow student of sewing and don't know much yet, but I did see this on youtube once...it seemed helpful to me, but I never went through with physically making one...

---How to Cosplay: Make a Pleated Skirt---
Part I:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqNzQeTAXwQ&feature=related
Part II:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os_VQYLojsY&feature=related

Hopefully, that helps you a little... If not, I'm sorry!

[SiderAnne]

for the top...
There is a book called Patterns for Theatrical Costumes by Katherine S Holkeboer. (check your Library) In the Mid-Late 19th century there is a bodice pattern that could be adapted.
I know you're worried about mod-ing it... but use cheap fabric, or try making a version out of newspaper first. It's cheap, there's probably tons at your house, plus you can draw on it to mod -- then cut apart on the lines you drew to make new pattern pieces. You can pin or sew the newspaper too.

Otherwise, I'd take one of those patterns with the three-piece front. On the center pattern piece, cut down the center (it may say lay fabric on fold, in that case, cut the fold). Add one three-inch strip or two two-inch strips (depending on which pic you're basing it on) to the center cut before sewing all together. The 3in and 2in measurements include about a half inch seam allowance on each side.
 
CUT: \ center |cut| center /
ADD: \ center |  | 3inches |  |center /     or    \ center |  | 2in |  | 2in |  | center /
SEW: \ center | 3inches | center /      or     \ center | 2in | 2in | center /

Does that make sense?

[camname21]

---How to Cosplay: Make a Pleated Skirt---
Part I:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqNzQeTAXwQ&feature=related
Part II:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os_VQYLojsY&feature=related

Decent videos 

[Kurohime]

And a link off a link off that video:

http://www.postkaye.com/sckaye/Costume/pleats.html

[StarryShay]

Those pleated skirt tutorials are amazing! :'D
I'm gonna try making some K-On Skirts laterrr.