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Has anyone ever seen a pleater like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0077464088

I received it today and worked a strip of cloth through but it barely flutes the material where you can see the lines but it doesn't look like pleats. I'm wondering if this was a fancy pastry dough fluter instead! Does nothing for material!

I think some of the ladies on Belle Alley have those... if I recall correctly they need to be heated somehow. Good luck!
Catherine

[Heather]

I think the ones I have seen are metal rollers. Which would allow you to heat them up and then roll your fabric. This one being wood, I don't know. It would be hard to put it in the fire.

Yes. The metal rollers are heated, then inserted into the machine. When the fabric goes through the shaped rollers, the results are lovely pleats. One of the ladies on The Alley purchased one that didn't come with the heating rods. She had her husband, I think it was, make some out of large bolts. These machines were very popular on The Alley. Miss Greeneyed Gypsy had one.

The top pleat roll does indeed come out and slip back in. So I'm to remove it, heat it over the fire, then insert and start rolling?