Apparatus for pleating cloth

An apparatus for pleating miniaturized draperies and the like fabric articles for small furniture comprising:

• a rigid frame covering an area of about less than 1 square foot, said frame having two side members and two end members, said side members fastened perpendicularly to said end members in a non-detachable manner and in fixed spaced opposite relationship to each other, thereby providing rigidity to said frame, said side members and said end members defining a central plane within the frame;
• each of said side members having a U-shaped channel, each side member comprising a rectangular shaped base member and two spaced opposing walls attached to and extending perpendicularly from said base member, each of said U-shaped channels spaced opposite and facing the other of said U-shaped channels in the opposite side member;
• guide means located in each of said side members extending substantially the length of said side members, each of said guide means supported individually within a corresponding U-shaped channel in each of the respective side members;
• and
• a plurality of flat, parallel flexible pleating slats extending between said side members with each end of each slat permanently trapped within said side members by said guide means, each of said slats being slidable along said guide means independently of the others of said slats in a nondetachable manner from said guide means with slight play between the guide means and each end of every slat, said slats held substantially non-rotatably along the central axis within said end members with the flat sides of said slats facing each other, the flexibility of the slats and the play between said guide means and each end of every slat allowing the slats to move in a free rectilinear manner, without binding of the ends trapped by the guide means resulting from flexing of the slats between the ends thereof when said plurality of slats are manipulated by individual sliding along the guide means for threading a fabric material through said plurality of slats for pleating.