Knife pleats are particularly useful when you want to add edging details to your latex designs. They are used as edging to accessories such as aprons, wristlets, cuffs, hems and necklines. You can use them to create a puff sleeve on the cuff or shoulder too. Knife pleats lay flat compared to box pleats see below:
Some use knife pleats for skirts or kilts, but the latex doesnt sit well and founces out if more than a few inches wide. If you want to create a kilt, you are best cutting long strips of 2" and 4" wide pieces, gluing along the edges (similar to a knife pleat) for a flat laying latex that looks just like a kilt made of fabric. Below, you can see how this method of strips glued in this way lays better than folding the latex like a knife pleat.
How do you create a knife pleat?
Most knife pleats are around 1cm wide but you can use wide widths, however the frill or ruffle effect will be bigger. Box pleats are best for a full ruffle effect (Blog soon to come). Below is a diagram of what a knife pleat looks like compared to a box pleat.
Here is how to make a knife pleat out of latex strip
Taking a latex strip around 1-2 inches wide (or however wide you want the pleats) and three times as long as the hem/neckline/edge you want to use the knife pleats on. Clean and prep both sides of the latex strip around 1/2 inch wide along the edge. Then mark along the top with your gel pen every 1cm as a guide for folding (this can be wiped away easily later).
Cut a strip of cling film/celophane the length of your latex strip and 1" wide, set aside for later. Apply Bostick rubber cemenmt glue to one side no more that 1/2 inch wide along the full length of the latex strip and allow to dry. Lay the cling film/celophane over the dried glue area to protect it from talc, dust etc and turn over. Apply Bostick rubber cemenmt glue to the other side no more that 1/2 inch wide along the full length on the same side as where you applied the glue on reverse of the latex strip and allow to dry. Now, uing the gel marks every 1cm, it is time to start folding two x 1cm sections together and leave one 1cm section free (see below)
Turn over the latex strip and peel off a section of cling film/celephone at a time exposing the area with glue applied. Fold the pinched together sections in the same direction (see below)
Using a seam roller, press the folded glued area down to bond the glue to the latex well. Finally, clean away any glue or gel marks left behind with Bostick cleaner/thinner.
Use some talc (a small bag or bowl with talc and soft makeup brush works) and apply to the latex to stop the cleaned areas sticking to itself. Now you will have a nice sharp folded knife pleats to use in your latex garments! DONE!
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