Can I Kick Pleat? How to modify a skirt pattern to add a kick pleat
February 28th, 2020

“What is a kick pleat?” you may be asking. A kick pleat is an inverted pleat in a narrow skirt, like a pencil skirt that allows freedom of movement. And today I’m going to show you how to modify a skirt pattern to include a kick pleat.

If your skirt has a vent in the back, you could add a kick pleat instead. The first kick pleat I ever sewed was from the 1959 McCall’s pattern 5136 and I’m going to use that kick pleat as a guide for this tutorial. This pleat has a two inch hem allowance and is meant for below the knee skirts. If your skirt is short of you don’t want a 2 inch hem, feel free to modify the length.

For this project you will need a long sheet of paper, a marker, tape, a ruler, paper scissors and the pattern you wish to modify. Feel free to follow along with the video below.

To start I measured cm in from the edge of the page. From these marks I drew a line 38cm long. I use this line to attach the kick pleat to the pattern. Now don’t stress or overthink adding a kick pleat. It’s a lot easier than you think. If use this template all the time and my skirts are not the same length. Please keep in mind that your pleat should be as long as or longer than the vent in your skirt pattern. If the vent is long than 38cm then draw this line longer.

Next I marked 2.5cm from down from the tip of the line. From this mark I drew a line 5.5cm long ensuring that this line was parallel to the top of the page. Next at the bottom of the line, I measure out 8.5 cm and made a mark. If your page is longer than 38cm you will need to draw a line here. This line is the bottom of the kick pleat.

Then I drew a line joining the end of the 5.5cm line with the 8.5cm mark at the bottom of the page. This created an angled line. Next I drew a line from the top of my short vertical line to the top of my long vertical line which created triangle. At the bottom of my kick pleat I wrote down the 2 inch hem allowance and along the longest line of the pleat, I wrote fold along this line. After that I cut it out.

Do not cut any interior lines like the base of the triangle or along the 38 cm line.

My final step was to attach it to the pattern. I used McCall’s 3341 version A, which was published in 2007. I purchased this pattern for $1.99 at Value Village.

I lined up the bottom of the kick pleat with the bottom edge of the skirt pattern as well as I lined up the 38cm line of the pleat with the inside edge of the skirt pattern and I carefully taped it together. Now it’s ready to go! It’s the perfect length for fall. In a future post, I will show you how to sew a kick pleat.