Cartridge Pleats
Cartridge Pleats: Plain
Plain cartridge pleats are essentially a hyper-organized type of gathering which uses multiple strands of gathering threads, all with stitches aligned. When executed well, these pleats allow a very large amount of fabric to be gathered into a small area. By varying the distance between the stitches, you can gather more, or less fabric into the finished size.
Cartridge Pleats: Padded
When making cartridge pleats on thinner or finer fabrics, it might be necessary to pad the pleats a little bit to give them extra body, or to control the way they drape. To do this, an extra piece of material is stitched on the wrong side of the pleats before they are gathered up. The result is a plush, lush, full pleat that looks great, and uses less actual material.
