REDUCING FULLNESS (DISPOSAL OF FULLNESS)

Introduction

When making garments, it is essential that a certain amount of material be reduced in order to
give shape and style to the garment. The term ‘reducing fullness’ simply means reducing the
amount of material on the garment in order for it to fit the person wearing it.

Methods of reducing fullness

There are two methods of reducing fullness. These are by folding and by drawing.

1. Folding:

You can reduce fullness by folding in the follow ways:

(i) by making darts.

(ii) by making pleats (there are three types of pleats, knife pleats, box pleats,
inverted pleats)
(iii) By making tucks.
2. Drawing or Gathering:
The second way to reduce fullness is by drawing, or gathering the garment in the
following ways:
(i) by making or applying gathers on the garment.
(ii) by making smoking.
(iii) by insetting elastic.

Tucks

Tucks are small pleats which may vary in width from a mere fraction of a centimeter to
several centimeters. They may be worked on the right side of garments.

Uses of tucks:

 For decoration, e.g. pin tucks on a bodice front

 To control shaping, e.g. on shoulder of a blouse.
 At a waistline to give more ease as the body widens from the waist.
 They may be planned to allow growth
 They may serve as style features exclusively.
 On a frill of a loose cover for a settee.

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Types of tucks

Pin tucks: can be arranged in a decorative way as a panel on the neckline.

Unsecured tucks: those not machined down.

Pleats

A pleat is a fold of fabric designed to give extra width in garments. It is formed of three
layers of material: a fold of material is creased and laid flat on the garment based down and
pressed. A pleat is held in position by the band or seam into which the pleats are fixed and
after the basting is taken. Pleats are used on tailored skirts, dress and shorts. They are also
used on bodices of dresses but make an attractive style features e.g. center back pleat on a
blouse.

Kinds of pleats

Different pleats are made according to the direction in which the folds on the pleats are fixed.
There are three mostly known pleats:

A. Knife pleats have folds facing in one direction and can be in groups if necessary. The
width of the pleats may be very narrow e.g. 6 mm or up to 5 cm wide.
B. Box pleats are formed by facing the fold of two knife pleats away from each other in
pairs. The folds of the pleats should meet on the wrong side.
C. Inverted pleats are made by facing the folds of two knife pleats towards each other to
meet on the right side.

Darts

Darts are used at the waist, bust and shoulders of clothes, the points of the darts tampering
towards the wider parts of the figure. A well stitched dart has the point tapering gradually to
nothing so that the surface of the fabric is quiet smooth at the end of the dart. Darts are made
on the wrong side of the work and pressed to make them as inconspicuous as possible.

To make a dart

Fold the fabric so that the right sides face and the pattern lines of the dart are together.

Some darts are pointed at both ends. These can be made similarly but the stitching is started
at one point and ends at the other. It is advisable to snip a dart so that it lies flat on the right
side of the garment.

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Smoking

Smoking is a decorative form of gathering used on night wear, children’s and babies’ clothes.
Gingham lends itself well to this type of decoration, or else a transfer can be used to put
smoking dots on to the wrong side of the fabric.

How it is done

Several gathering threads are done picking up the dots so that when all the threads are drawn
up slide folds appear on the side. Embroidery stitches are used to sew from fold to fold,
making a pattern.

Elastic

Elastic can be used in several ways to reduce fullness. The type and width and the method of
holding it should be chosen to match the weight of the fabric.

a. Attached by three- step zigzag

This method is used a lot commercially. 0.5 cm or 1 cm elastic can be machined to the
wrong side of medium weight fabric using the three step zigzag stitch. This method is
useful for the inside of gloves, for hats and for children’s clothes. The ends of elastic
should be turned in neatly and machined down or sewn into a seam to secure them
firmly.
b. Casing for elastic
When it is necessary to reduce fullness in garments without an opening as in pilch
knickers, the waist edge and can be finished with a hem, and elastic threaded through
it. A false hem made with a crossway strip may also be applied on the wrong side and
then the elastic may be threaded through this. Make an eyelet hole on the wrong side
of the false hem. Insert the elastic through the eyelet hole and overlap the ends by
about 2 cm. Over sew the edges of the elastic.

TASK

(i) Give reasons for disposing of fullness in garments

(ii) Name and describe different methods of controlling fullness.
(iii) Give suitable garments and positions where each method can be used.
(iv) Explain the methods of working the different methods of controlling fullness.

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ASSIGNMENT:

Make a needlework file which should have all the types of reducing fullness. Explain
how each one of them is sewn. At the end of each explanation, attach the stitched
samples.

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