My apron's got a "wave" in it.

[Rampant Lion]

Hey folks,
I was hoping you could give me some advice. Just over a week ago I took my kilt out of the closet because I was considering wearing it on St. Andrew's day (ended up deciding not to) and I noticed that the apron of my kilt had a wave to it from hanging in the closet. Now it looked like this was caused my the fact that I leave my kilt pin pinned to my kilt when I'm not wearing it (This was a recommendation from the place wear I purchased the kilt so that I wouldn't have to put new holes in the fabric each time I donned it). The weight of the pin combined with the crampedness of my closet seems to have cause the apron to hang a bit different. Now I have the "wave." This is the first time it's happened in the 6 years I've owned the kilt.
Now I know I could have it pressed by the dry cleaner that pressed my kilt for my wedding (there's no way I'd trust myself to do it), but I was thinking that maybe I could steam it out. I don't have a steamer, but I was thinking I could hang it on the back of my bathroom door when I shower and then either hang it again this time without the pin or lie it flat for a few hours afterwards. It would only be about $10 to get the kilt pressed, but the cleaner is quite a drive from where I live in the city so just a pain in the butt.
Has anyone experienced anything like this? Any advice would be appreciated.

-Will

[PiobBear]

I rarely wear kilt pins, for this and several other reasons.

Pressing your kilt is easy (if time consuming), I do it all the time (although $10.00 to press a kilt by a dry cleaner (if they know what they're doing) is a steal!).
You need a brick, a spray bottle of water, a tight-weave coth like a dish towel or tea cloth, and a steam iron.

Warm the iron to the recommended setting for your kilt material, steam setting on (for my iron, "wool" for my wool kilts, "acrylic/silk/rayon" for my Stillwaters. When in doubt, especially with synthetics, start at the lower temperature. If it doesn't work, turn it up a notch). Spread out the area to be pressed smoothly (in this case, the apron) on the ironing board. Spray the area with water, lay the cloth smoothly (no wrinkles) over the area (pressing without a cloth can flatten the nap, leaving a sheen), and press down firmly with the iron. Hold for a few seconds, then pick up and move the iron to an adjoining area, and place your brick wrapped in tinfoil over the spot the iron just was, to lock in the steam. You can drag the iron back and forth over the aprons, but when doing pleats, pick it up and put it down, so it doesn't drag and rearrange your pleats under the cloth.

Make sure you use a suitable kilt hangar that supports the kilt evenly across it's width, so it doesn't take a sag. Otherwise, if you rarely wear it, you might be better off rolling it up.

[Cawdorian]

You didn't mention the weight or yardage of your kilt. If you have a full eight yard 13 oz or 16 oz tank, you might try laying it on the bed with the apron side down and the pleats on top for a few hours. Sometimes the weight of the pleats will help press the apron back into shape. Just be sure and spread the aprons out smoothly to eliminate any wrinkles.

[MacTavishOfJapan]

Personally I would go with the professionals, I wouldn't trust myself not to have a disaster. But maybe I am too cautious! Good luck!

[RockyR]

If it's just 1 wrinkle in the front apron, use a STEAM iron (on a steam setting) and iron it from the INSIDE. This way, even if you do have it on a setting a little bit high, it won't damage the look of the front of the kilt, but it will take the wrinkle out.

[McClef]

That's what I do if it's just the apron too - what Rocky said

[Barb T]

I agree. It will take maybe 2 minutes, tops. Just be sure to iron, with steam, from the inside.

B

[Colin]

Just a quick question or two to maybe help avoid this in the future. What kind of Hanger are you using? And what kind of kilt is it (material)? While a standard pants hanger works ok, I found that they were too short and often the kilt hangs over a bit unsupported. Kiltstore.net sells a longer version of the hanger specifically for kilts http://kiltstore.net/sr_swhdr_hanger...e=highlandwear which I have seen at a few other vendors as well (can't remember which right now). The other option for storing the kilt is to roll it. Chech out http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...hlight=rolling

[RockyR]

What we do is take the regular plastic 14" pants hangers with 2 pants clips and take out the metal bar with the clips on them. We take 1 clip off of 1 hanger and add it to a second hanger's metal bar, giving the 2nd hanger 3 clips. If you can get 3 hangers, you can make 2 "kilt hangers" this way. It only takes 2 mintues and works VERY well.

[auld argonian]

Didn't someone post a couple of photo tutorials on how to modify existing hangers so that they were kilt-friendly?

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ghlight=hanger

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ghlight=hanger

...ah...it was Blu!

Best

AA