Cioppa Construction Details
Jun. 7th, 2009 07:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
This is going to be a somewhat excessively detailed description of how I'm assembling the pleated sections of my new cioppa. It's mostly for my own reference, so I'll put it behind a cut.
Each section of the cioppa is a trapezoid divided into six pleats, like so:

I'm trying to keep this as lightweight as possible, so there are only two layers: a lining of pink cotton/linen and an outer layer of satin. I'm not sure what the satin is made of; it doesn't melt when burned, but it smells like plant fiber so it's not silk. Maybe rayon? It frays fairly easily, so I'm trying to finish all the edges as well as I can. Also, I set a challenge for myself to do all the sewing by hand, partially to see how hard it would be to do (not as hard as I thought) and also because it gives me better control.
The first step is to lay out the white satin on the lining:

You can see here that the guard will be an extension to the white satin, rather than applied on top of it. Not exactly accurate construction, I'm sure, but economical. The white layer is pinned to the lining and basted around all the edges with a very long running stitch:


All the sewing is done with white hand quilting thread, except where otherwise noted. Ideally I'd be using waxed linen, of course, but this stuff works with a minimum of hassle and is cheap. The next step is to lay out the bronze stain guard, pin it in place, and trim it to shape:


I'm trying to minimize the amount of unnecessary sewing, so the guard is pinned in place with the top edge turned over and ready to finish. The side and bottom edges are basted down like the white was, while the top edge is top stitched using a smaller (though not extremely fine) running stitch using a light brown Gutermann thread I had on hand that matches the guard well enough:

At this point all the layers are attached and can be treated as one. The bottom edge is turned under twice, pinned, and sewn down with an overcast stitch in the brown thread:


And the top edge likewise with the white thread:

Now the interesting bit begins. Here you can see the pattern that I used to cut out all the pieces, with markings for where the pleats will go:

The assembled layers are placed face down on top of the pattern, and the markings are transferred to the lining side:


Yes, I probably could have used chalk instead of Sharpie, but I didn't want to have to deal with my lines going missing in the middle of things. Besides, if my choice of marking tool is the biggest issue someone has with this thing, I think I'm doing pretty well. Anyway, on to the next step! Each pleat is pinned along the marked line and sewn about 3/16" in from the edge with a running stitch:


Now this is where the only major change came from how I was doing this before. On previous attempts, I first basted all the layers together along the pleat line, so I could be sure to get all the layers when sewing the pleat itself. This might still be necessary if I were using more and/or thicker layers, but with only two thin layers I can tell by feel if everything's in the right place. It also might be helpful if I were still doing this by machine, but then the basting would be a trivial matter anyway. This was the part that I was dreading most when attempting to do this by hand, but it's turned out not to be too bad, especially after getting rid of the basting step.
The next few bits are only necessary for the center front opening, which means they will only occur on two of the ten sections. When everything is fully assembled, the pleats will be held in place with a series of stay tapes tacked to the valleys of each pleat. The problem is that this won't really work at the center front, which will be closed with hooks and eyes. In the previous cioppa attempt, I solved that problem by sewing a strip of fabric to the back of the whole pleat at the center front. This time I decided to sacrifice the last pleat of each center front section instead, and turn it back to anchor the pleat at the front. Confused yet? Here's some pictures:


The Instead of becoming a pleat itself, the last part is turned back, topstitched at the fold, and hemmed in place. Then this is turned back and attached to the valley of the previous pleat, keeping it in a permanent "U" shape. This also provides an easy line that I can later attach the hooks and eyes to.
Now we get back to a standard construction step. Each section is attached to the next by basting the two raw edges right sides together with a loose overcast stich:

The raw edges are then covered with twill tape, sewn down with a back stitch:


The twill tape is something synthetic, but I have a million yards of it, so I'm using it. This is pretty much all there is to it, at least until I start putting on the yokes and stay tapes.
Each section of the cioppa is a trapezoid divided into six pleats, like so:
I'm trying to keep this as lightweight as possible, so there are only two layers: a lining of pink cotton/linen and an outer layer of satin. I'm not sure what the satin is made of; it doesn't melt when burned, but it smells like plant fiber so it's not silk. Maybe rayon? It frays fairly easily, so I'm trying to finish all the edges as well as I can. Also, I set a challenge for myself to do all the sewing by hand, partially to see how hard it would be to do (not as hard as I thought) and also because it gives me better control.
The first step is to lay out the white satin on the lining:
You can see here that the guard will be an extension to the white satin, rather than applied on top of it. Not exactly accurate construction, I'm sure, but economical. The white layer is pinned to the lining and basted around all the edges with a very long running stitch:
All the sewing is done with white hand quilting thread, except where otherwise noted. Ideally I'd be using waxed linen, of course, but this stuff works with a minimum of hassle and is cheap. The next step is to lay out the bronze stain guard, pin it in place, and trim it to shape:
I'm trying to minimize the amount of unnecessary sewing, so the guard is pinned in place with the top edge turned over and ready to finish. The side and bottom edges are basted down like the white was, while the top edge is top stitched using a smaller (though not extremely fine) running stitch using a light brown Gutermann thread I had on hand that matches the guard well enough:
At this point all the layers are attached and can be treated as one. The bottom edge is turned under twice, pinned, and sewn down with an overcast stitch in the brown thread:
And the top edge likewise with the white thread:
Now the interesting bit begins. Here you can see the pattern that I used to cut out all the pieces, with markings for where the pleats will go:
The assembled layers are placed face down on top of the pattern, and the markings are transferred to the lining side:
Yes, I probably could have used chalk instead of Sharpie, but I didn't want to have to deal with my lines going missing in the middle of things. Besides, if my choice of marking tool is the biggest issue someone has with this thing, I think I'm doing pretty well. Anyway, on to the next step! Each pleat is pinned along the marked line and sewn about 3/16" in from the edge with a running stitch:
Now this is where the only major change came from how I was doing this before. On previous attempts, I first basted all the layers together along the pleat line, so I could be sure to get all the layers when sewing the pleat itself. This might still be necessary if I were using more and/or thicker layers, but with only two thin layers I can tell by feel if everything's in the right place. It also might be helpful if I were still doing this by machine, but then the basting would be a trivial matter anyway. This was the part that I was dreading most when attempting to do this by hand, but it's turned out not to be too bad, especially after getting rid of the basting step.
The next few bits are only necessary for the center front opening, which means they will only occur on two of the ten sections. When everything is fully assembled, the pleats will be held in place with a series of stay tapes tacked to the valleys of each pleat. The problem is that this won't really work at the center front, which will be closed with hooks and eyes. In the previous cioppa attempt, I solved that problem by sewing a strip of fabric to the back of the whole pleat at the center front. This time I decided to sacrifice the last pleat of each center front section instead, and turn it back to anchor the pleat at the front. Confused yet? Here's some pictures:
The Instead of becoming a pleat itself, the last part is turned back, topstitched at the fold, and hemmed in place. Then this is turned back and attached to the valley of the previous pleat, keeping it in a permanent "U" shape. This also provides an easy line that I can later attach the hooks and eyes to.
Now we get back to a standard construction step. Each section is attached to the next by basting the two raw edges right sides together with a loose overcast stich:
The raw edges are then covered with twill tape, sewn down with a back stitch:
The twill tape is something synthetic, but I have a million yards of it, so I'm using it. This is pretty much all there is to it, at least until I start putting on the yokes and stay tapes.
no subject
on 2009-06-07 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-07 11:23 pm (UTC)May I add you as friend?
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on 2009-06-08 02:00 am (UTC)