Advice few sewing box pleats?

[ardchoille]

I'm still working on my box pleat tartan kilt. I have the pleats in place but I don't know how to sew them. Sewing the box pleats on the inside is easy because it doesn't matter of the stitching shows - it will be up against the wearer. But, how do you sew the box pleats on the outside of the kilt so that the stitching doesn't show?

Anyone have any advice?

[Lily]

You can find it all in DIY, it,s sticky and on the top of the page.

[ardchoille]

You can find it all in DIY, it,s sticky and on the top of the page.

I believe that is for a machine-sewn X-Kilt, I'm making a hand-sewn, box pleated, kilt.

[Aldisimo]

You have to sew inside the fold, similar to a blind hem, picking up only one thread of the top fabric.

[Pleater]

I have used two methods for box pleats, depending on if I want the two folds to be joined or to leave a small gap between them so that the fabric beneath shows.

For the first method I fold the fabric, right sides together, pin it so the fold is the centre back of the pleat, then draw on the line I want to sew. From the top edge the seam first moves away from the fold, creating the flare above the waist, then it heads towards the fold creating the flare of the fell.

The diagonals are longer than the straight material, so you need to press carefully to get the edges to shorten and connect with the fabric beneath them.

For the second I tack the edges as single folds to establish the shaping, and then press them into place and pin them through all three layers, then I sew through all three layers, either making the stitches visible as a decoration, or hiding them as much as possible, if that is the requirement.

If you are using a rigid material, or cotton it is not easy to twist the edges of the fold, so in the one kilt I made this way I sewed the edges of the box pleats separatly, straight on the grain, then sewed the down onto the back of the pleat and cut away fabric beneath the fell to remove the reaction to the shaping. I overlocked (serged) the edges and it worked - but the kilt was short lived as I tore the fabric at the bottom of the fell when walking in rough scrub.

[Barb T]

I assume from your first post that you are working in tartan? If so, the following are the easiest directions for doing box pleats.

The simplest thing to do is to pin and sew one pleat at a time, just like you do for a trad kilt. So, if you've pinned everything, I'd take it all out before you start - just keep track of where you want the edges of the pleats to be.

Hold the kilt so that the top edge is at the left and the bottom edge at the right (you'll be pleating away from you, starting at the apron edge. Fold and baste the edge of the apron. Locate where the edge of the first pleat will be, lap the folded apron edge along that line, and stitch on the outside by hand using a blind stitch _through only one thickness of fabric_ (this is different than pleating a knife-pleated kilt).

Locate the other edge of the first pleat, and fold it along that line (don't press). Locate the edge of the second pleat, and lap the fold of the first one along that line. Stitch along the edge using a blind stitch. Fold, lap, stitch until you've sewn all the pleats.

Work your way across the back of the kilt. When you're done, you'll have 8 or 9 big loops of fabric on the back of the kilt. Flip the kilt over, front down. Flatten the "loops" into box pleats.

[ardchoille]

I assume from your first post that you are working in tartan? If so, the following are the easiest directions for doing box pleats.

The simplest thing to do is to pin and sew one pleat at a time, just like you do for a trad kilt. So, if you've pinned everything, I'd take it all out before you start - just keep track of where you want the edges of the pleats to be.

Hold the kilt so that the top edge is at the left and the bottom edge at the right (you'll be pleating away from you, starting at the apron edge. Fold and baste the edge of the apron. Locate where the edge of the first pleat will be, lap the folded apron edge along that line, and stitch on the outside by hand using a blind stitch _through only one thickness of fabric_ (this is different than pleating a knife-pleated kilt).

Locate the other edge of the first pleat, and fold it along that line (don't press). Locate the edge of the second pleat, and lap the fold of the first one along that line. Stitch along the edge using a blind stitch. Fold, lap, stitch until you've sewn all the pleats.

Work your way across the back of the kilt. When you're done, you'll have 8 or 9 big loops of fabric on the back of the kilt. Flip the kilt over, front down. Flatten the "loops" into box pleats.

After I figured out how to do this, I took a 2 yard length of scrap 11 ounce tartan and used the above method to sew in 4 box pleats. After the pleats were hand-sewn in, I took the ends of the piece and stretched them - trying to see how much stress the hand stitches would take - and none of the stitching ripped. I was pulling pretty hard and expected at least some of the stitches to pop but none of them did and 13/16 ounce tartan is more rugged than what I was testing. I know the stabilizer and interfacing take the stress off the seams but I wanted to see how the seams handle it. I was pleasantly surprised.

[ChattanCat]

Wow Barb, it sounds so simple.

[ardchoille]

I assume from your first post that you are working in tartan? If so, the following are the easiest directions for doing box pleats.

The simplest thing to do is to pin and sew one pleat at a time, just like you do for a trad kilt. So, if you've pinned everything, I'd take it all out before you start - just keep track of where you want the edges of the pleats to be.

Hold the kilt so that the top edge is at the left and the bottom edge at the right (you'll be pleating away from you, starting at the apron edge. Fold and baste the edge of the apron. Locate where the edge of the first pleat will be, lap the folded apron edge along that line, and stitch on the outside by hand using a blind stitch _through only one thickness of fabric_ (this is different than pleating a knife-pleated kilt).

Locate the other edge of the first pleat, and fold it along that line (don't press). Locate the edge of the second pleat, and lap the fold of the first one along that line. Stitch along the edge using a blind stitch. Fold, lap, stitch until you've sewn all the pleats.

Work your way across the back of the kilt. When you're done, you'll have 8 or 9 big loops of fabric on the back of the kilt. Flip the kilt over, front down. Flatten the "loops" into box pleats.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand a word of that.

These are box pleats. I don't understand how to do a blind stitch on the outside of the kilt because the edges of box pleats meet.. there is no way to access the material beneath the box pleats in order to do a blind stitch because the edges of the box pleats are touching one another. Isn't there a way to hide the stitching on the outside of a box pleated kilt?

Maybe I'm just too dumb to grasp this.

[ardchoille]

Ok, I think I've got it:

lay the material out flat and mark a line on the inside of the kilt every 3 inches, do this for the entire pleat length. Fold the material between each line you've drawn so that the first and second lines touch and stitch the fell along that line on a sewing machine. fold the material again so that the third and fourth lines touch and stitch that down. Do the same for the fifth and sixth lines and so on for the entire pleat length. When you're done you will have material with loops every three inches. Lay that material out with the loops on top and press the loops down so that the edges of each loop are touching the edges of the neighboring loops. When you turn the material over.. viola.. box pleats with the stitching hidden on the inside of the material. The inside pleats can be hand stitched and the stitching will not be seen from the outside of the kilt.

This looks like it will work and it will cut a lot of hand sewing. It will hide all stitching and form much better stitches than my skills will allow. Of course, the 3 inches should be adjusted for the width of desired pleats. My friend even did this on a scrap piece of cloth and it looks awesome from the outside.

Can someone comment on this technique?