HOW TO PLEAT.
Pleating is more of a trick than it appears to the uninitiated. Good pleating is very beautiful, but poor pleating is worse than none at all. The secret of good pleating is uniformity.
I will acknowledge that pleating was one of the most difficult things for me to learn; but I finally invented a little scheme that assisted me wonderfully.
It was nothing more or less than a clothespin, but it accomplished the work accurately. Start at the left-hand upper corner, first turning under the raw edge. Then place the slot of the clothespin over the edge and turn it half around to the right. Place your finger against the fold thus made, pull out your clothespin and tack or pin in place. Move your clothespin a given distance to the right, turn again and pin as before. The pleating will be absolutely uniform. In single pleating the folds are all one way; box pleating is made by turning first to the right, then to the left, as in illustration.
SINGLE PLEATING.
If you have a good eye for distances you won’t need the clothespin, but beginners may use it to good advantage.
Where you have a pleated background the edges of your framework may also be pleated closely, and then, say every six inches, pull out the pleating into the form of a rosette. The effect is very pretty.
BOX PLEATING.
CHAPTER IX.
THE BACKGROUND.
A good background is a necessity. It is the frame of your picture. Many goods, desirable in themselves, need a color effect to throw them out properly. Practical window trimmers devote much study to designing their backgrounds, frequently relying upon them to arrest the eye of the passing throng and so direct attention to the goods themselves.
No matter how artistic a window display may be, it loses more than half its attraction if not suitably backed. The background affords relief to the trim, and is as necessary as the scenery to a stage setting or the sky line to a landscape. It completes your picture, and, frequently, attracts the eye sooner than the goods.
Therefore too much attention cannot be given backgrounds, and were there a school of window trimming, the proper use of the background would be one of the first things taught.