Pleating Chiffon for Janet's Hat

It's hard to catch a good view, but my best guess is Janet's hat has about 3 or 4 pleats around the base of the dome. To accomplish this you'll need to cut the chiffon on the bias. This is actually crucial for best results. On the bias means along the diagonal of the fabric's weave. If you take a woven piece of fabric and tug on it sideways or longways you won't get much stretch. If you tug on it diagonally the fabric will stretch considerably more. This is an extreme advantage when working around curves.

I'm using a sheer cotton fabric from the home decor department at JoAnn's. Its cotton content will allow it to press easily without fear of melting. I cut a bias strip that was 30" by 8" - way more than I needed, but you can cut the excess off later. I pressed the pleats the length of the fabric - aiming for about 1/4" - 3/8" pleats. Be very careful not to stretch the fabric at this point. After pleating, fold and press the excess under and trim it off. You'll now have a 30" pleated strip that should be relatively straight. Janet's isn't perfect, so don't sweat any waviness.

Now you want to press a curve into your pleated strip. The bias will do all the work for you. The curved band will make wrapping it on the hat lay smoothly.

These pleats are a little on the narrow side, so I'm going to play around with 3 wider pleats in place of the 4 narrow pleats. The hat is $20 on Amazon (thanks Larry!). It's not as flimsy as Janet's, but it should hold up to shadow-casting abuse well.

Once you get the pleats placed you can trim down off the excess length and add your bow.