Page 206 - CTS - Dress Making - TP - Volume - 1

DRESS MAKING - CITS

Tucks, Gathers, Shirrings, Frills

Objectives: At the end of this exercise you shall be able to
• name the function of tucks
• name the types of tucks and their features
• explain the construction techniques and stitching aids
• explain the material required for stitching tucks.

A tuck is a straight fold of fabric stitched on the grain evenly throughout the fold. (Fig 1)
It may appear similar to the pleat but some construction features are different. Tucks are stitched to the full length,
whereas pleats are stitched on the top in the horizontal direction or only for a short length in vertical direction.
A tuck also has a fold line and a placement line and is stitched parallel to the fold line on its full length. A tuck is
constructed similar to the knife pleat, i.e. in one direction (except the cross tucks). The beauty of a tuck depends
on it accuracy. It will look good only if the width of tuck and the distance between the tucks are maintained evenly.
The tuck width and the spacing between the tucks depends on the desired design effect and the thickness of the
fabric. Special design effects can be achieved by setting the tucks group wise.
Tucks are used mainly for decorative purpose. In some cases they are used for shaping the garment to the body
(similar function as the dart) or used in children´s dresses to provide some allowance for growth. In some rare
cases tucks are used to conceal joints in a garment when they are altered. The joint will appear on the wrong side
of the garment while the decorative tuck will be visible from the right side.
Generally tucks are folded on the right side of the garment since they have decorative purpose. Only dart tucks
used for shaping are folded on the wrong side for shaping.
Types of tucks:
There are types of tucks -
1 Pin tucks - When the fold is very narrow, they are called Pin Tucks.
2 Spaced tucks -Spaced tucks are folds of cloth sewn at regular intervals.
3 Blind Tucks - Blind tucks are sewn so close together that the rows of stitching do not show on the outside. Each
tuck overlaps the next covering, the previous row of stitching.
4 Shell Tucks - Narrow tuck with shell like scallop edge is called scallop tucks.
5 Corded Tuck - When a cord is placed inside the fold, is called corded tuck.
6 Released Tuck - When tuck stitching started from a point and end somewhere in middle called released tuck.
This is to control small amount of fullness.
Tuck is a fold or pleat in fabric that is sewn in place.
Plain tucks are formed in one direction. Width of tucks and the spacing can vary with the desired effect. If the
space given between the tucks is equal to the depth of tuck, i.e. the fold of the tuck touches the stitching line of
the previous one, they are called blind tucks. Blind tucks can be regarded as a variation of plain tucks. Another
variation of plain tucks are the pin tucks. As the name implies they are of very narrow width, almost equal to a
pinhead. Only thin fabrics are suitable for pin tucks. (Fig 2)

Fig 1 Fig 2

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CITS : Apparel - Dress Making - Exercise 48