The Costumer's Manifesto: Faking Fortuny "Delphos" Pleats

The Costumer's Manifesto is written by Tara Maginnis, and proudly hosted by William Baker.

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Costume Design & Construction I

Make Fortuny style pleated fabric for use in a costume (5C)

Design and make a costume using your pleated Fabric (5D+10C in addition to the above 5C)

Read the following Article all the way through before beginning:

Faking Fortuny "Delphos" Pleats: The Quick and Dirty Method

taraandlorrainet.jpg (10095 bytes) by Tara Maginnis and Lorraine Pettit

1. Choose a very thin silky fabric of either natural or synthetic fiber. Get more than you think you will need for both length and breadth, since pleating reduces the width considerably, and some length is lost to the gathering process.

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2. Hand gather the two ends of the fabric tightly into small irregular pleats, and stitch the ends so they cannot come undone through much pulling and prodding.

Poiret Fashion Review Paper Dolls

Fortuny

3. Using two people, or one person and a stationary hook, twist the fabric very tightly until it starts twisting back on itself like a rope. Keep twisting until it forms into tight coils.

howto3.jpg (7106 bytes) ..... howto4.jpg (14183 bytes) ..... howto5.jpg (7152 bytes)

A Complete Guide to Silk Painting

Creative Marbling on Fabric : A Guide to Making One-Of-A-Kind Fabrics
Mickey Lawler's Skydyes : A Visual Guide to Fabric Painting

Dyes & Paints : A Hands-On Guide to Coloring Fabric
Color & Design on Fabric: Paint, Dye, Stitch, Print (Singer Design Series)

The Art of Manipulating Fabric

Clotheslines: A Collection of Poetry & Art

120 Great Fashion Designs 1900-1950 Book and CD-ROM

Erte's Theatrical Costumes in Full Color

Fashion Drawings and Illustrations from Harper's Bazar

taraandlorraine.jpg (14720 bytes)

4. Stitch the ends of the coils into place temporarily so that they cannot unwind during boiling.

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5. Boil the fabric on the stove or in a dye vat for approximately 10 minutes.

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6. Allow to cool until safe to handle.

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7. Wring to remove excess water. If necessary, untwist and retwist. Microwave on high in one or two minute increments until you notice dry spots. Watch fabric closely during this step, as it is possible to burn the fabric. Use care when removing fabric as it will be steaming.

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8. Try to keep your fabric as tightly coiled, as possible, and hang up to dry for about 24 hours. To dry more quickly , take a nylon stocking (an old pair of pantyhose works fine), cut off the toe, and encase your still-twisted fabric into the stocking, rather like a sausage. Knot the ends. Throw into the dryer with large towels.

Fortuny style pleating done for UAF's The Magic Flute

9. After drying, stitch normally into simple dresses or scarves, but do not press. Remember to always re-coil dress after washing, and keep dress in coiled shape during storage to retain pleats. This makes excellent garments for travel since they fit into small places and are deliberately wrinkled.

What is a real Fortuny? Go see Evening Gown "DELPHOS" or learn more about the topic at these links (no I don't expect you will look at all of them):

Fortuny

The Projects:

Make Fortuny style pleated fabric for use in a costume (5C)

Using the instructions found in the article above, make yourself a length of fabric suitable for building a costume. When it is finished, photograph the fabric as jpeg files and post them to your File folder at the class eGroup. Post a message to the group letting everyone know you have posted these pictures so you can get feedback.

Design and make a costume using your pleated Fabric (5D+10C in addition to the above 5C)

Design a costume using the fabric you made in the project above, and build it. You may choose to make a simple Fortuny style dress, or use the fabric as one of several fabrics in a more complex costume as you prefer. When it is finished, photograph the rendering and the costume as jpeg files and post them to your File folder at the class eGroup. Post a message to the group letting everyone know you have posted these pictures so you can get feedback.

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The Costumer's Manifesto is proudly hosted by William Baker.

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This Page is part of The Costumer's Manifesto by Tara Maginnis, Ph.D. Copyright 1996-2010. You may print out any of these pages for non-profit educational use such as school papers, teacher handouts, or wall displays. You may link to any page in my site.