← Threads Magazine Podcast: "Sewing With Threads"
Threads Magazine Podcast: "Sewing With Threads"
Professionally Pleated Pants, with Mary Funt | Episode 98
00:26:39
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- [00:00]
A
You're invited to join the 2026 threads Folkwear Sewing Challenge. It's open to all, no matter what your sewing skill level. Contestants need to construct a look that updates traditional American garment design using a folkwear pattern or patterns from their vintage line. Folkwear is offering a discount on these patterns through April 1st. To find out the challenge rules and how to enter with photos and details about your sewn look, go to threadsmagazine.com A panel of experts will choose one winner to receive a prize package and bragging rights, of course. Join our Threads Folkwear sewing challenge by April 23rd. We can't wait to see what you've created. Hello and welcome to Sewing with Threads, the monthly podcast from Threads Magazine. I'm your host Jeanine Clegg. Today I'm joined by couture sewist and instructor Mary Funto. Welcome Mary, hello.
- [00:58]
B
Nice to be with you and thank you for inviting me.
- [01:01]
A
Well, thanks for being here. Allow me to tell folks a little about you. Mary has been creating couture, bridal and evening wear for 25 plus years. She shares some of her work and techniques through her website cloningcouture.com Mary is a multi time winner of the sewing challenge that Threads Magazine poses each year to the association of Sewing and Design Professionals and she has explored different techniques with each entry she's had and now she's sharing a how to with us. In the Spring 2026 issue of Threads, Mary walks through her personal project of creating a pair of pants from fabric that was custom pleated. Mary, what inspired you to make these sunburst pleated pants and how did you come to choose the professional pleater?
- [01:48]
B
Well, I have actually been working with George Kalejian for quite a few years and have done numerous projects with him before in my making of couture garments. I have often utilized his services in doing custom pleating for evening formal wear and I thought that it would be fun to explore doing a pair of pleated pants. I actually saw on George's Instagram account that he had designed a pair of lovely pleated pants for his wife and they were just so appealing to me and I thought that they might be more appealing to the readers than a formal dress that maybe doesn't get worn that often and to have something that's a little more casual in your wardrobe.
- [02:40]
A
They were beautiful. And George is the owner of Tom's Son's International Pleating and they're based in the Garment District in New York. And yeah, Mary, I have to agree with you. Those Black pleated pants that George made for his wife are just beautiful. And she wore them on his Instagram account. He showed pictures of her, and she wore them with a jean jacket. So you can go casual or you can go more formal. It's really, really neat. I think that is appealing to a lot of people. So you saw these, and you got started. You started talking to George about it. And did he. He just gave you some advice on how to proceed. How did that work out?
- [03:29]
B
Yes, I contacted him. I said, I absolutely love these pants that you have up on your Instagram page, and I'd like to make a pair. And so he told me that he has actually developed a computer program for cutting the fabric because it eliminates the sewer having to figure out that crotch curve, which can be a little tricky in pleated fabric. And so he said, just send me some fabric. The one thing to remember, if you're having something permanently pleated, you can do it with a natural fiber, but it will come out if the garment gets wet or cleaned. So if you want something that you can simply throw in the washing machine and hang it up to dry, use a good quality polyester fabric, and that will give you much better results. And the pleats will be permanent.
- [04:27]
A
Yeah. Good advice. Well, you invited me to visit the pleating studio, George's studio, with you, last year, to provide a better understanding of what's involved in having fabric pleated professionally. I just was wondering, what did you learn from that visit? Like, what stood out for you? It was a really exciting day. I got a lot out of it myself. But wondering what you walked away with, because you had worked with George before on various things.
- [04:55]
B
Yes. What I really enjoyed seeing was the process that he's developed to cut the fabric. I had always had him cut my fabric because in order for the. For a home sewer to get that fabric perfectly lined up, you really have to have a very large table that you can spread out of wide fabric on, and it's so much easier, and I think well worth the small additional charge just to send him the unpleated fabric and tell him to cut it. And for me to watch that process where he puts the fabric onto this giant table, and there's a little puff of air that comes up, and it smooths all the little wrinkles, gets it perfectly smooth. He and his pleaters, they make sure that the fabric is perfectly squared up and on grain. Then there's a sheet of plastic that goes down over the fabric and then a vacuum that kind of is underneath the table and and it securely holds the fabric onto the table. And then this amazing cutting machine just moves across the fabric, and it's guided by a computer, and it will cut the bottom curve, and it will cut the crotch curve. So when you receive your pants to make, the shape will already be cut, and it will be so much easier.
- [06:31]
A
And you can be sure that everything's on grain and straight. I mean, that is really hard to do for most of us to get everything lined up. And you had chosen sunburst pleats. And so you want to make sure that everything is straight. And this computerized machine we witnessed, he showed us, you know, he demonstrated for us how this works. And it's really amazing. I mean, that's hard to do on your own dining room table, I have to say. So I was. I was impressed by that machine. And it really does. Does keep the fabric straight. And the cutting wheel is all. It's all computerized, and it makes these notches in the fabric. I found that fascinating. And to start out, having everything straight makes all the difference, for sure. So I agree with you. I think having the cutting done professionally is helpful for your project. So I wonder if we could describe a little bit the basic process that your fabric went through before George finished it all and sent you the pleated material so you could construct the pants. So after the cutting is done, I think it then goes to the pleating table. It's carried over, it's cut out. It's carried over to the pleating table, and that's where it's put into a mold, positive and negative mold. It's made of really heavy paper. And you remember that part?
- [08:02]
B
Yes, yes. They lay out, like you said, the positive and negative molds. He has many, many molds in the workroom. And if you're interested in pursuing this project, he's also very helpful in helping you determine the number of pleats you want in your panel. The pants are constructed from a semicircle of fabric, and depending upon the weight of the fabric, he has molds that will do 36, 42, 77. And those are the number of pleats that are put in that half circle. So the higher the number, the closer those pleats are going to be together. And he's very helpful in determining what is the best circuit size of your pleating based upon the effect that you want to create and the weight of your fabric.
- [08:58]
A
Yeah, and, you know, there's. You know, you chose sunburst accordion pleats, but you could also do sunburst side pleats. You could do Sunburst box pleats. I mean, there are so many different pleating styles. You can do it on straight fabric if you want. I mean, I loved the sunburst pleat idea, but, you know, there are so many different ones to choose from. You don't. You don't have to go with that one. But that could be used for a skirt, too. It doesn't have to just be pants. It could be a skirt. And I thought the pants, though, were a really great idea. And yeah, you're right that after the. After he puts it into the mold, you know, he puts the top on and then it goes through this really amazing process. It's a two person process at the pleading table, right? Where one person's on one end and the other is on the other end. And they make sure that the fabric is laid flat and it's precisely pushed together in this mold so that it's all in place, no wrinkles, and you can be sure everything's on grain. So then after they get to the point of pushing that mold together, the next step of the. Of course is to go into a steam closet. Right, Mary?
- [10:15]
B
Right. Your fabric actually gets steam baked where it has. In order to set those pleats permanently, he has special large, I guess, ovens, like a steam oven that the mold is now placed in that oven, and it gets subjected to steam and a relatively high heat, and it sits in there for several hours. And after the steaming process is complete, then that fabric, which is still in the mold, comes out and it's allowed to cool. And ideally, he has told me he likes to let that cool for 24 hours because that will really set those pleats in.
- [11:06]
A
I remember it was so interesting watching him open. I guess it reminded me of a giant refrigerator, but it's really like a steam closet that he pulls it out of. It was so neat watching him open the door and the steam comes out, you know, and then he pulls out your. Your pleated fabric that's already. It's in the mold. You can't see the fabric yet. It's still in the mold. And then he puts it on the table, as you said. So that was the. That was like a big reveal for us. It was like, voila, here we go. Now we're gonna put it on the table. And then he. Then what's the next step?
- [11:39]
B
And then we got the big reveal. And then he lifted the top of the mold off and the pleated fabric fell out. And it was, you know, perfectly pleated. And, you know, the pleats beautifully lined. Up and, you know, then he had taken this flat piece of fabric and turned it into kind of this magical creation.
- [12:04]
A
Wonderful fabric manipulation. Really, it was just gorgeous. And the fabric you chose was really good. I mean, like, you were just talking a few minutes ago about what fabric to choose. And I have to say George is very good about helping someone who is unfamiliar with this pleating process choose the fabric. And he also has fabric available there that he has found to be very successful and handle and taking the pleats. So you could buy it, bring your own, or you can have him supply the fabric for you for your project. If you were to give this a try.
- [12:41]
B
Exactly. When I've worked with him in the past, I have oftentimes just mailed him fabric and occasionally if you can't find something, definitely contact him. He has fabric sources, fabrics that he has used before that work well. And he does source some very nice quality polyester fabrics that are beautiful. And he agreed with me that some of the best polyesters are Japanese.
- [13:14]
A
That's right, yes. Yes, he did talk about that. And just to be clear, there are other professional pleaters that you can go to to have similar thing done. You know, international pleading is not the only place to go. But we have found that this pleader has been amazing. He loves to work with home sewists. And that brings me to this point. You know, it seems like it's a high end sewing project for the typical home sewist. But, you know, what I learned from all of this is that it's very doable. George is very good at offering advice on everything from choosing the fabric to selecting the type of pleat. And he's got a lot of resources on his website, internationalpleading.com to help a newbie, like to find out more about it. And you know, you've got, again, there are different types of pleating. You know, you, you can choose that side pleat, the box pleat. You can choose to have something machine pleated. That would be for very fine pleats. You can choose wider pleats. There's just, there are amazing number of choices and you know, and there are a lot of variables in all this. So, Mary, you know, when you were, when you were considering this, I guess it was easy because you saw the photo, the Instagram shot of George's wife wearing those pants. But were, did you, when you got in touch with him and you've been working with him, did you find it difficult to make some of these decisions about like, how many pleats do I want? Like how Wide do I want them? How wide do I want the pants? How did you come to this decision? Did he help you with that?
- [14:55]
B
Absolutely. He is very. He loves to work with home sewists, and he says that sometimes someone who just works out of their house and does projects for themselves will be a little intimidated to call him. But he says he's very happy to work with you. This is not somebody that only wants large production orders, and he is extremely helpful in deciding what will work best in your fabric, what kind of look you want. He has also written a book. A lot of the information is available on the website, but if you really want to look at some inspiration photos, he has a book published, and it's fascinating to look at a lot of great ideas in there. It'll also give you information on what type of pleating is possible and exactly how to go about it, how to calculate your yardage, and just a ton of great information.
- [15:52]
A
Yeah. The book, it's called Fundamentals for Fashion Design, and it was written by George and his father, Leon, and Threads actually reviewed the book when it was published in 2017. And we can supply a link to that in our show notes for the episode. But I know it's almost 10 years old at this point, but this is invaluable information, and it's timeless information. There's some information in there about what he told us was one of his most difficult, pleading projects he ever did, and that was for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They had reached out to George and his father to see if they could help replicate some Mariana Fortuny dresses, because the dresses in the Met's collection were falling apart, and they wanted to use the dresses as part of an exhibit years ago, but they didn't want to use the original. They just were not in good enough condition for the exhibit. So George and his father took on that project, and he describes in the book a little bit about that, and he also talked to us about how difficult it was and how they had tried for months and months to get the pleading as close as possible with the modern fabrics that are out there. It was a little bit more difficult. And, you know, the Fortuny. The Fortuny pleading is still considered a secret. The. The way it was done, kind of no one else has been able to replicate exactly, But George and his father came pretty close to it, and the Met was extremely happy with the results, and they were under a time crunch, but they got it done at the last minute. And it was so interesting to listen to George talk about that.
- [17:52]
B
Absolutely. That, that was fascinating to listen to. And listen to his story about how they were able to replicate and very close to that original fortuny style of pleating. And he said it was a very, was a multi step process because they pleat the fabric once and then they run it through a different mold and they pleat it again and they may even pleat it a third time just to get that very unique texture. So that was absolutely fascinating to hear his explanation of how that was done.
- [18:28]
A
It was. And you know, George's family history and how he got involved in the family pleading business is really a fascinating and a heartwarming story. And I invite you to check it out and find out more about it again on George's website. His website's pretty great. But, you know, Mary, do you have any tips for people who are thinking about doing this? You know, pleading is definitely a trend now. You see a lot more pleated garments and I'm wondering if you have any immediate tips for someone who's just starting out. What should they do right now in preparation for pleating a garment? Whether it's for, you know, a special event or it's just, you know, for the. For a simple pair of pants. What should they do right now?
- [19:20]
B
Well, George's Instagram page is wonderful for just getting some inspiration on possible styles. You don't necessarily have to pleat an entire garment. You can pleat a top, you can make a pair of pants. A simple circle skirt can be transformed just by doing pleating techniques on it. And there are virtually limitless pleating designs. If you want to look through some of his photographs, you can see some of the myriad of designs that he's developed. And there's a whole library of molds available in the workroom. And he is very helpful with helping you decide what will work best in your project. If you will send him photographs or sketches, he can make appropriate suggestions as to what fabrics would work well, what pleating techniques would work well, and really guiding you through all those decisions.
- [20:25]
A
That's true. And you know, I think, yeah, that first step always is to first figure out what you want, like what look are you going after. And like you said, to gather up some inspiration and figure out what you want and then he can help you determine how to achieve that and in an affordable way. You, you know, I know it sounds like, oh, custom pleating with a professional pleader. That's going to be out of my price range. Not necessarily. He's very aware of price conscious folks and about being economical, but still getting the look you want, right?
- [21:08]
B
And the garments that I've made in the past, not so much the pleated pants, but I made for myself a gown. My youngest son got married on the beach and I had him pleat, doing a sunburst pleat for the bottom of the gown. And by the end of the evening, the whole bottom of the dress was totally covered in sand and dirt. And I'm like, you know, I really didn't want to get the whole dress cleaned, but. But I dumped it into the laundry sink in the utility room, rinsed all the sand out of it, hung it up to dry, and it was perfect. So the garments are very packable, washable, very easy to take care of, and they're not something delicate that you have to be afraid of wearing.
- [22:00]
A
Oh, what a great story to tell about that. So where do you think you're going to wear your beautiful pleated pants that you've made that we'll see in the article?
- [22:10]
B
Yes, I'll wear them out to dinner, to events. Like I said, they're wonderful to pack. They basically roll up into a suitcase and you take them out of the suitcase and shake them out and they're fine. So I'm looking forward to wearing them.
- [22:28]
A
Love that. I love that. No, work with ironing before you have to put it on. Mary, because these are custom pleated pants or a custom pleated garment, I'm assuming that measurements have to be taken. What measurements did you have to supply or and did you have to come up with a pattern yourself? How does that work?
- [22:50]
B
I didn't supply any measurements. When he cuts this, what you will get, and you'll see this when you read the article in threads, that you will get a pattern that has the front crotch curve cut and the back crotch curve cut. And there's a detailed explanation in the article of how to adjust that for your particular size. These are not a fitted garment and so therefore there's some leeway in the measurements because you don't. Obviously this is not a snug fitting article. And there's also an explanation for how to make it a little bit wider if your hip measurement is maybe a little wider, or how to adjust it for a petite figure. One thing to bear in mind is that it works best if you have a fairly wide fabric, like a 54 inch wide fabric. The narrower your fabric is, the shorter your garment has to be. So if you want a floor length pant, you need to be working with a wide fabric. If you find something that you love that's only 45 inches wide. It will limit how long your skirt or your pants can be.
- [24:11]
A
Mary, if folks want to find out more about your work and even take one of your classes, how can they find out more?
- [24:17]
B
Well, like you mentioned, I am on the Internet@cloningcouture.com I am also going to be hosting a couple of in person classes in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Those classes will be held the last week in April and the first week in May and the links to sign up on that will be on my website within the next few days and those classes will be done this year in 2026. I also frequently teach on Zoom and those classes are done several times a year. I'm going to be teaching a French jacket class the last week in April and then the first week in May. I will be doing a kind of pick your own project. In the past people have opted to make a custom dress for form. They can choose a project that they would like to work on and have some assistance. They can do a French jacket. They can finish a project that they are that it's unfinished in their workroom and they just like to get it done. So that is what I'm offering.
- [25:31]
A
Excellent. Oh my goodness. I'm coming. They sound great Mary. Thank you. Well, thank you Mary for sharing more about your experience experience creating your pleated pants and for your upcoming article. That in depth article, by the way, which includes instructions on sewing the pleated pants, is in the Spring 2026 issue of Threads and the issue will reach newsstands and subscribers mailboxes by mid February. You can find show notes for this episode@threadsmagazine.com as well as links to previous episodes. And we'll be back with another episode of Sewing with Thread Threads real soon. Thanks again Mary.
- [26:10]
B
Thank you. Thank you for having me. Always enjoy working with you.
- [26:14]
A
Thank you to our guests for joining us and thanks to all of you for listening. Please remember to send your comments, questions and suggestions to threadsmagazine.com and please like comment and subscribe wherever you are listening. Until next time, keep on Sewing with Threads.