Its the difference between measurement and shape - even if you have hips and waist the same circumference, a rigid outline of the hips would not be the same shape as a rigid outline of the waist.

The area of shaped pleats should start at just over half the waist measurement and each pleat should lie vertically, expanding in width to accomodate the body shape to the widest point, where it should then fall vertically.

The apron should fall vertically - or rather appear to, as although it has shaped sides, they should appear to be vertical. A straight sided apron often appears to be narrower at the hem, so the shaping should perhaps be likened to the form of a column, which needs to be wider in the middle in order to look straight.

The fall of a skirt - that is all garments suspended from a band about the waist, is subject to the rules which were obviously understood by the French designer Vionnet who created garments on the bias and who caused the skirt to fall in different ways according to how the top edge was twisted. Her clothes are amazing.

Anne the Pleater