Military Kilt repairs

[The Wizard of BC]

Actually guys the fabric in these two kilt is in pretty good shape. There is a hole in the front apron from a Kilt Pin on each and one small hole in the one I am working on. Other than that and some failed pleat stitching they look pretty good.

[bonnie heather]

Wow! You deserve a medal for rescuing this kilt!

Did the cut out part of the pleats unravel at all when the kilt was washed?
Even if that didn't happen, how close can a person get to the cut edge when stitching the new felling in doing a repair or alteration?

...Bonnie

[ChattanCat]

Wow! You deserve a medal for rescuing this kilt!

Did the cut out part of the pleats unravel at all when the kilt was washed?
Even if that didn't happen, how close can a person get to the cut edge when stitching the new felling in doing a repair or alteration?

...Bonnie

Bonnie,

It is recommended to have 1/2" of good material. The pictures posted so far look like there may be less than 1/2". Steve, can you clarify?

[Pleater]

As an eternal optimist myself, I can only step back and bow to a master - that looks like something where you could spend months trying to reweave the edges to get enough fabric to sew a seam.

I was thinking, maybe some of that really ultra light weight iron on interfacing could help to stabilise the edges of the cut outs and give you something to work with - maybe tease out the weft threads onto one piece and the warp onto another, laid flat and untangled, and then you would not be losing anything of the original but it would hold the rest against further fraying.

I did reweave the edge of a cloak once, tying on sewing cotton with rolling hitches to the ends of the threads and using cut up bamboo skewers as bobbins to move the individual threads of warp and weft back into place.

Once it was all back together again I sewed on an edging tape and then glued the ends of the threads to it before turning up the hem.

I can't help thinking that it might be an idea to offer to 'service' older kilts now, before they start to disintegrate as badly as that one.

[ghostlight]

And no wonder they call you "The Wizard"!

[ccga3359]

This pic alone makes it appear that it is a lost cause. I wish you the best of luck and the culmination of your years of skill. Methinks that it would certainly be cheaper to just make a new kilt but there is history there. I do have to ask though, in your opinion was this kilt built properly by a master kilt builder?

[12stones]

I can't wait to see the pics of the repairs. I commend you for taking this project on.

[The Wizard of BC]

I hope this helps to answer some of the questions you all have.

First, I made a mistake when I posted the pleat reveal. It is actually 1/2" at the bottom of the Fell. This is a kilt for a very thin person. The waist is only 30"-32". So that may be throwing some of you off.
It is also very heavy fabric so there may be a visual illusion happening also.

The area of the pleat cut-outs was pretty well frayed when I got the kilt. Please remember that this is a military loaner kilt and has been used and abused by generations of young soldiers.

Now, on the the questions.

How much fabric needs to be left to re-sew the pleats I have no real idea. I would estimate 6-10 threads of good cloth should be sufficient. Please remember that when worn there should be almost no stress on the pleat stitching.
This is what I have been trying to stress to everyone and why I started this thread in the first place. A Traditional Kilt has re-enforcements behind the Fell that take up the stress.
Today we are so used to seeing kilts where there is nothing inside the kilt. Where the pleats are just sewn down. All the stress of moving is transferred to the pleat stitching and if that fails the kilt fails. If there is a liner it is more for show than to cover and hide the interfacings.

This Kilt was made by a competent Kiltmaker. Were they a Master? Well, I have no way of knowing. But it is evident from the construction that they did not have Barb's book when they learned their trade. The methods used are completely different. There are many ways to make a kilt. Some good and some not so good. And some are just different.
The one thing that I have learned about kiltmaking is that it is not the outside of the kilt that is important to the construction it is the inside. The stuff you do inside will allow the outside to look good and hang well but if you skip or omit the interfacings and stabilizers the kilt will fail. Or at least it will not look as good as one with the internal construction.

The next step I did was baste the entire kilt. I re-shaped the apron edges and put in 5 rows of pleat basting. I did the pleat basting more to make the thing manageable to move around the shop. The basting will also be more to hold everything in its relative position than to set everything perfectly for pressing.

The next step is to re-stitch the Fell back together. As anyone who has made their own kilt will know this is hours of hand stitching. Over and over till all the pleats are stitched.

[ChattanCat]

This pic alone makes it appear that it is a lost cause...

I do believe there is sufficient material to make most if not all of the pleat stitching. If you look close, the width of the pleat is only a little wider than the stripe. Therefore, as long as you have some dark material, you should be fine.

Methinks that it would certainly be cheaper to just make a new kilt but there is history there. I do have to ask though, in your opinion was this kilt built properly by a master kilt builder?

Labor would probably be a wash but you would need to get more material.

I was thinking, maybe some of that really ultra light weight iron on interfacing could help to stabilise the edges of the cut outs and give you something to work with - maybe tease out the weft threads onto one piece and the warp onto another, laid flat and untangled, and then you would not be losing anything of the original but it would hold the rest against further fraying.

I did reweave the edge of a cloak once, tying on sewing cotton with rolling hitches to the ends of the threads and using cut up bamboo skewers as bobbins to move the individual threads of warp and weft back into place.

Once it was all back together again I sewed on an edging tape and then glued the ends of the threads to it before turning up the hem.

I can't help thinking that it might be an idea to offer to 'service' older kilts now, before they start to disintegrate as badly as that one.

Glue? In a knife pleated kilt?

[sydnie7]

[snip]Glue? In a knife pleated kilt?

No, if you read the post, it was in the repair of a cloak. Given the extent of the implied damage (reweaving shreds of fabric enough to create an edge that could be stabilized), extreme measures and innovative tactics were employed to salvage a presumably treasured item.

Making kilts from pristine lengths of whole cloth may involve time-honored and traditional methods of construction. Restoration of something the dog chewed up is a whole 'nother story.