by Diva Els
Lining a skirt or dress which has pleats can be done on several ways, I will show you my way.
I use walking vents on the side seams which are reinforced so they cannot tear. The side seam allowances I use are 1,5 cm wide. For the reinforcement, I cut a piece of lining 5×5 cm with a pinking shear and press the square in half diagonally (on the bias). A pin marks the opening of the vent in the photo below.
The piece of reinforcing lining is placed as above. Again, note the pin marking the vent opening.
Sew the piece to the seam allowance only as shown above. Begin at the folded side and stitch towards the top till you meet the side seam.
To stitch the other side, turn the lining and stitch from the top down.
Press the reinforcement piece as above so that it will lay flat. Lastly, the vent seam allowances and hem are topstitched.
Done!
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THE SEWING DIVAS sewing, design, fashion 
Els, this is a fantastic tutorial! More great stuff to add to my techniques binder.
Comment by Gigi — June 9, 2006 @ 9:43 am
Els my dear you are a genius! More good stuff to know and save.
Comment by Phyllis — June 9, 2006 @ 10:29 am
This too is going in my notebook of tutorials. Thank you!
Comment by Gorgeous Things — June 9, 2006 @ 1:11 pm
Els, I totally missed this one yesterday. It’s a lovely bit of treasurable info!
Comment by Mary Beth — June 9, 2006 @ 3:19 pm
What a great tutorial on the walking vent. Great information
Comment by Linda — June 9, 2006 @ 3:21 pm
Awesome. Such a beautiful finishing detail. Remind me to never let you see the inside of some of the things I’ve cobbled together.
Comment by Karla — June 10, 2006 @ 5:09 am
Els, Thanks for posting all of the information on vents. These are the special finishing details that patterns (and sewing books) never include. I definitely will incorporate these techniques into my sewing.
Comment by nanflan — June 10, 2006 @ 2:35 pm
Fabulous! Wonderful! Thank you!!
Comment by Anonymous — June 14, 2006 @ 12:58 pm
Brilliant! I just found this when searching by Google. –Katharine
Comment by Anonymous — July 1, 2006 @ 1:55 am
Cool!
Comment by Nicolaon — May 8, 2007 @ 7:39 pm
thanks for the helpful info.
in a book it says: “whenever you connect the lining to the outside vent, lengthwise ease is important to keep the lining from distorting the outer seam. If your garment pattern includes a lining pattern,it probably does not allow lengthwise seam above the vent. you can check this by lining up the back garment and the back lining patterns matching the CB and upper edges. is the tops of the vents line up, there is no legitimate ease above the vent.”
is what you have written in your post what is meant by “lengthwise ease?”
what exactly does this mean and how do i allow for ease in the manner described.
does this same method apply for a french vent?
please get back to me on this, i cant get my head around it.
thanks
Comment by inmydreams — February 16, 2010 @ 5:38 am