Do kilts have a "break-in" period?

**The Wizard of BC** · 15th December 11, 05:18 PM

I now have the kilt disassembled as much as I need to evaluate it fully.

Here is a photo of the last part of the kilt I needed to see. This is the area under the interfacing where the stabilizer usually is.

In this area you can see where the pleats are cut away to keep the kilt from being bulky in the back.
The two top pencils you can see are pointing at where the buckles are located on the back of the kilt.

Here is a detail of this area under the interfacing.

If you look at where the lower pencil is pointing you can see a line of stitching along the pleats. This is called the "Steeking". Because the pleats are cut away they need to be stitched to keep them from sagging under their own weight. The steeking line is usually sewn so that it is not visible. I think this detail on this kilt also needs to be re-done.

You can plainly see that there is no stabilizer installed in this kilt. The buckles were sewn through the Tartan fabric and directly to the interfacing. But because the interfacing itself was not sewn to make it act as a single piece of fabric, the folds in the interfacing acted like an accordion allowing the size of the kilt to stretch.

The next thing now is to start putting this kilt back together.