Quote Originally Posted by ruxpin76 View Post
I've thought about doing a full 'backing' of denim or canvas, then making the kilt. My logic being that the heavier material will hold the pleat with the lighter cotton almost serving as a decorative cover. I was thinking of using my 5 yds. left over for a box-pleated variant. Any thoughts? I will iron and starch the one I just made and report back the results. For what it's worth, I doubled the material in the overlaps, and they are substantially heavy enough to provide "frontal coverage".
Don't do that either! The backing will shrink at a different rate than the tartan, so you will just compound the problem.

Cotton is a wonderful fibre, but it has its own unique features too, not the least is the ability to shrink every time it is washed. There is a treatment, used to be called Sanforized (sp?) that stabilised the cotton.

I got some unbleached cotton that has shrunk every time it was washed, which rendered it totally useless.