Advice few sewing box pleats?

[ChattanCat]

Did you draw your taper lines...aka pleat edgelines on the tartan in chalk?

I agree, that's a good idea, and the chalk will brush out with a toothbrush. Don't use a dressmakers pencil, though, whatever you do! That doesn't brush out!

Just as an aside, I started sewing my California Tartan box pleat exactly as Barb has suggested. After meticulously sewing one pleat I realized that I could pin the thing in place and machine-sew the pleats ten times faster and the stitching would be invisible as well as half-again stronger.

So I did.

I think that we have two different methods and both will work. If you are hand sewing, then you want to do a pleat at a time as Barb suggests.

If you are machine sewing then folding each pleat then machine sewing from the inside makes sense to me.

Keep in mind that the seam does not need to be stronger because it is the canvas that is carriing the load, not the sewn pleats. You should always put in canvas to relieve the stress of the buckles and belts from the pleats and aprons.