Add a Pleat to a Yoke Dress or Bubble

When I sat down to make my plan for Spring sewing, I had a hard time ignoring this adorable little dress from The Proper Peony. Its’ new twist on classic lines are so visually appealing. The yoke dress is a favorite of mine, throw in a pleat and I’m basically drooling at the possibilities.

I had to figure out how to make this happen. I consulted with several, far more experienced sewists and walked away with a couple of different options. I will be describing the option that I felt allowed for the least bulk at seams while adding the fewest steps.

***One disclaimer***When I was taking the example pictures, I accidentally used the back yoke piece instead of the front. Fortunately, I caught the mistake before I messed up the whole garment. One should be using the “front yoke piece, not the back yoke piece as pictured. whoops.

Adding a Pleat to a Yoke Garment

1. Lay out fabric on grain and fold.
2. Place front yoke and skirt/bubble front on the fold. Line yoke up directly on top of skirt/bubble. Treat them as one for this part. Scoot yoke and skirt/bubble away from fold the 2x the desired pleat width. In my case I wanted a 3 inch pleat so I moved my pieces 6 inches away from the center.
3. Draw in pleat lines. This should include pleat fold line, pleat stitch line and the line to which the pleat will extend. I used chalk so that the lines would show up in the pictures. You’ll probably want to use a marker. Here’s a good one.
4. Cut around pattern pieces. DO NOT CUT AROUND THE NECK OR AT THE SHOULDERS yet. I used this small rotary cutter.
5. At this point, add embroidery as desired. Machine or hand. Make sure to account for the collar and neck placement when centering embroidery.
6. Fold fabric at the center line again. Iron it in place. Stitch pleat along pleat stich line. Lay flat. Slit both layers of fabric along the bottom yoke cutting line from the outer edge toward the center until approximately 1/2 an inch past the chalk line indicating the edge of the completed pleat. It should be the one closest to the outside edge. If you’d prefer to cut each piece individually, without folding, you’d probably get a gold star from the teacher :).
7. Add piping or entredeux to bottom of yoke piece. If the entredeux is 1/4 inch wide, the seam allowance used should be 1/2 of that width (1/8th inch).
8. You will likely have to hand sew the inner entredeux ends.
9. Gather skirt or bubble bottom and add it to the entredeaux/piping bottom. If the entredeux is 1/4 inch wide, the seam allowance used should be 1/2 of that width (1/8th inch).
10. Lay the constructed front piece out, press pleat flat. Cut neck and shoulder out using pattern piece.

At this point, you can continue with the pattern as written. As I mentioned before, there are other ways you could accomplish this same look, this is just what I ended up choosing. Feel free to send me a message or comment below if some of the steps aren’t clear. I’ll be happy to help.