Military Kilt repairs

[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.