A Stack of Pretty Plisse

I love vintage plisse!  Plisse is a lightweight fabric with puckered texture. Although its similar to seersucker, the process for creating the puckers is completely different.  For seersucker, the texture is created by a slack-tension weaving process where alternating stripes of tight and bunched warp threads create a permanent crinkle texture.
 Plisse's bumpy texture is made by applying a chemical (sodium hydroxide) to parts of the fabric causing those areas to shrink and the untouched portions to pucker.  Its usually not necessary to iron plisse, (which is one of its many attributes) but should you feel the need, take care not to press hard or stretch the fabric, since you could flatten out the crinkles.  I've found that lightly steaming does the trick.

Often times the chemical is applied in a striped pattern to mimic seersucker, but others are done in a stippled pattern.

And the prints on the vintage stuff are utterly charming! Look at those sweet little birds. :)

My vintage catalogs often show these fabrics for use in summer dresses, children's wear, and baby accessories. So, I guess I probably should have written this post back at the beginning of summer. lol
Oh well, the recent purchase of a lovely 4 yard piece and the fact that its frosty outside and I'm already missing warm weather made me want to gather them for a photo shoot. :)

 

I suppose I should pull out some of my winter fabrics for the next post...corduroy and barkcloth, maybe?

Have a great weekend everyone!