April 12, 2015

Analysis, part 10 - Action pleats summary

Here's a quick summary of the evidence we managed to gather regarding the VOY jumpsuit's action pleats: 

* The action pleats seemed to universally meet the yoke at the armscyes throughout Deep Space Nine's first two seasons.

* The change in construction standard appeared to be during Deep Space Nine's third season, during which Generations was released and Voyager was launched. 

* Tom Paris' action pleats seemed to always meet the yoke at the armscyes. 

* Michael Eddington's, Tuvix's, and Q2's action pleats seemed to always meet the yoke at the armscyes. 

* With very few exceptions, the Sisko's action pleats seemed to always meet the yoke at the armscyes. 

* With very few exceptions, Jadzia Dax's action pleats seemed to always meet the yoke at the armscyes. 

* With very few exceptions, Bashir's action pleats seemed to always meet the yoke at the armscyes. 

* Janeway's action pleats seemed to never meet the yoke at the armscyes during Voyager's first season, but from the second season onward, with very few exceptions, they did. 

* Chief O'Brien's action pleats seemed to nearly always meet the yoke at the armscyes during the first two seasons of Deep Space Nine, seemed to never do so during the third (and possibly fourth) seasons, then did again during season five. 

* The EMH's action pleats sometimes met the yoke at the armscyes, but sometimes they didn't. 

* Chakotay's action pleats sometimes met the yoke at the armscyes, but sometimes they didn't. 

* Tuvok's action pleats sometimes met the yoke at the armscyes, but sometimes they didn't. 

* Chell's action pleats seemed to never meet the yoke at the armscyes. 

* Harry Kim's action pleats seemed to never meet the yoke at the armscyes, instead meeting the yoke between approximately ⅜" and 1" away from the armscyes. 

* B'Elanna's action pleats seemed to never meet the yoke at the armscye, instead meeting the yoke between approximately ¼" and 1" away from the armscye. 

* Data's action pleats did not meet the yoke at the armscyes, instead meeting the yoke approximately ¼" away from the armscyes. 

* Picard's action pleats did not meet the yoke at the armscyes, instead meeting the yoke approximately ⅝" or ¾" away from the armscyes. 


So, the question ultimately is, "Should the action pleats meet the yoke at the armscye, or is the 'correct' placement slightly inward - and, if the latter, where is ideal? ⅛"? ¼"? ⅜"? ½"? 1"? We've seen all of those many times!" 



However, considering the evidence that these uniforms' action pleats were originally intended to meet the yoke at the armscye, that that construction standard was consistently in practice the majority of the time on Deep Space Nine, and that that standard was seen (albeit inconsistently) all the way through the end of Voyager, it is our opinion that the action pleats should meet the yoke at the armscye, and the uniforms with action pleats that didn't were exceptions to the standard, not standards themselves.

Therefore, on our sewing pattern, the action pleats do meet the yoke at the armscyes!

Do remember, though, that this is just our interpretation of the evidence that we were able to gather - i.e. our opinion - and if you wish for your jumpsuit's action pleats to meet the yoke elsewhere, then go for it! There is plenty of evidence of that construction method amongst the 11 ½ seasons of both shows and Generations.

We like the 3-way intersection that the action pleat meeting the yoke at the armscye produced, and we believe that the majority of the evidence indicates that this was the ideal construction standard, 'tis all!



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