Kid's Pleated Skirt (School Uniforms)

Folds sewn into the waistband and left free below it are what make a skirt pleated. They exist to give a narrow garment enough room to walk. Knife pleats all face the same direction around the body. Box pleats sit in pairs facing away from each other, which reads flatter at the front and fuller at the hem.

Whether those folds survive the year is decided by fiber, not by price. Polyester is thermoplastic, meaning heat softens it and it sets hard again in whatever shape it cooled in. That is why a pleat pressed at the factory is locked in and comes out of the dryer as it went in. Cotton has no such memory. Pleats in cotton or a cotton rich blend are pressed rather than set, and they relax in the first wash, which commits you to an iron every week for as long as you own the skirt.

The Skirts & Skorts entry in our Kid's Bottoms guide covers the built-in short that turns a skirt into a climbing garment. That is the fix if coverage worries you. Sew this same pleated skirt onto a bodice and you have a Uniform Jumper Dress, which leaves nothing to tuck. Swapping to Uniform Shorts solves the heat problem and leaves the skirt rule unsatisfied.

Where a code names a skirt outright, this is the garment, and it also suits cooler terms with tights underneath and older grades who prefer separates. Think twice for a child who hangs upside down from bars unless shorts go under it. Windy playgrounds make the case for a box pleat, which hangs heavier and swings less than a knife pleat.

Each pleat should be stitched down from the waistband for the first 3 to 4 inches, since that stay stitching keeps the hip flat instead of bulky. An adjuster in the waistband matters more here than almost anywhere, as a skirt on plain elastic rides up as a child grows and shortens itself against the code. Hang skirts rather than folding them, and renew pleats by pressing from the waistband down through a damp cloth so each fold is sharpened rather than flattened sideways.