In sewing

Sewing

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...

, a tuck is a fold or pleat

Pleat

A pleat is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference....

 in fabric that is sewn in place.

Small tucks, especially multiple parallel tucks, may be used to decorate clothing or household linen

Linen

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....

s. When the tucks are very narrow, they are called pintucks.

Tucks are also used to shorten a finished garment, especially a child's garment, so that it may be lengthened ("let down") as the child grows by removing the stitching holding the tuck in place.

In Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868...

's Little Women

Little Women

Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...

, Amy says:
Tucks, made easy with the invention of the sewing machine

Sewing machine

A sewing machine is a textile machine used to stitch fabric, cards and other material together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies...

, were very popular as ornamentation in the latter half of the 19th century, especially in fine linen or cotton fabric for chemisette

Chemisette

A Chemisette is an article of women's clothing worn to fill in the front and neckline of any garment. Chemisettes give the appearance of a blouse or shirt worn under the outer garment without adding bulk at the waist or upper arm.Chemisettes of linen or cotton were often worn with day dresses in...

s, engageante

Engageante

Engageantes are false sleeves worn with women's clothing in the 18th and 19th centuries.In the 18th century, engageantes took the form of ruffles or flounces of linen, cotton, or lace, tacked to the elbow-length sleeves then fashionable....

s, blouse

Blouse

A blouse is a loose-fitting upper garment that was formerly worn by workmen, peasants, artists, women and children. It is typically gathered at the waist so that it hangs loosely over the wearer's body. Today, the word most commonly refers to a woman's shirt but can also refer to a man's shirt if...

s, lingerie

Lingerie

Lingerie are fashionable and possibly alluring undergarments.Lingerie usually incorporates one or more flexible, stretchy materials like Lycra, nylon , polyester, satin, lace, silk and sheer fabric which are not typically used in more functional, basic cotton undergarments.The term in the French...

, summer dresses, and children's garments. Tucks were also used to decorate heavier fabrics: a travelling suit of "rough cheviot" (sturdy wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

) is described as having its skirt "tucked, each tuck two inches wide and two inches apart, eight tucks in all, box-pleating

Pleat

A pleat is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference....

at the bottom."