---
title: "Pleater"
description: "A pleater is a small tabletop device with rollers and threaded needles that gathers fabric into even pleats for smocking in one pass."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/pleater
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Pleater

*A pleater is a small tabletop device with rollers and threaded needles that gathers fabric into even pleats for smocking in one pass.*

A pleater feeds cloth between rollers that carry rows of threaded needles, which pick up evenly spaced folds and leave gathering threads in them. It replaces the slower step of marking transfer dots and gathering row by row by hand.

## Do you need one?

No. Smocking is traditionally done with a needle and a dot grid, and a pleater mainly saves time on large yardage. Check the maximum cloth weight your machine takes, because heavy fabric fights the gathering.


## Sources

1. [Smocking fabric: techniques and patterns](https://sewguide.com/smocking/). SewGuide

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/pleater