Ripping out pleats

[Benning Boy]

Kilt Kampers, Barb, et. al.


It took me an awfully long time to sew just half the pleats into my kilt at Kilt Kamp. I've organized a room and bought some things I need to get back to work on it. However, I'm unhappy with a couple of the pleats I did. the horizontal stripes don't quite line up. Can I just rip out these pleats and re-do them, or do I need to open all the pleats all the way back to the beginning and start over? I really would like to make some progress, not regress, as it takes me so long to hand stitch everything.

[The Wizard of BC]

Yes, you can rip out the stitching you don't like.

And yes, you can rip out only what you don't like as long as you can get your fingers behind the fabric and not sew a bunch of pleats together.

I do this all the time. Every good kiltmaker does. (well, except for Barb, I don't think she has ever made a bad stitch.)

"Don't sweat the small stuff. What is small stuff you ask? Well, if it can't kill you, it's small stuff."

[bonnie heather]

When I do alterations, sometimes it involves un-stitching pleats.
I always use I little pair of embroidery scissors shaped like a stork, because the "beak" blades are nice and skinny, long and pointed. I slide the tip under the stitch to lift it and then snip. My teacher Ann Stewart told me to never, never use a seam ripper because a slip of the hand could rip the tartan fabric.
If the pleat was sewn through the 2 layers of the pleat next to it (not just one layer), you might need to un-stitch that pleat, too.

[plaid preacher]

Hey BenningBoy, nice to hear you haven't given up! I think I will have to rip out a pleat or two as well, from our first day of Kilt Kamp. Befor we left, I watched Barb help someone with that very process. If you have to restitch a pleat that is too far down the pleat to be able to get your fingers in, Barb takes a pair of scissors and opens the back of the pleat enough so you can get your fingers in. You will be cutting that material out after all the pleats are in place anyway. Just be sure that you don't cut down too far.

[Benning Boy]

Thanks for the tip, Bonnie. I know the sort of scissors you mention. My mom, 92, has some inherited from her grandmother. It must be an enduring style. I'll have to buy some, as I otherwise would have used a seam ripper. I tried to take a stitch every twill line. There are a lot to take out.

Reverend Robert, I think Barb showed Thistledubh how to fix pleats as you describe, basically right in front of me, I wish I had paid more attention.

I bought a six-foot table, an Ottlamp with magnifier to go with a regular Ottlamp, some reading glasses that let me focus closer to the work, and Thistledubh sent me some of those great needles, Now I'm ready to get back to work.

[plaid preacher]

LOL... love those needles, but they sure do tear my fingernails to pieces! I could never become a professional kiltmaker... as I would be limited by the growth of my fingernails.

[Steve Ashton]

Benning Boy.

I think your going to find that the scissors like Bonnie describes will not work for you. Our guy fingers are just too big to go through the little handle holes.
I use a spring loaded style that i find works pretty well.



Also note the seam ripper I use. It is actually a scalpel blade. The end is blunt so it does not poke through the fabric.
I can slip the tip into a seam and by holding the blade flat zip out a line of stitches. Only once have I cut through the fabric with this and I was actually trying to do so.

[Alan H]

Seam rippers. I have one. I use it. 95 x out of a hundred it'll be fine. Where it's not so fine is where you are taking out a REALLY tight machine-sewn bit. I've ripped the tartan a few times working through those. It's seriously frustrating, so when I get into a bind like that I just take a deep breath,pour myself a dram and get out some really small tweezers and a tiny pair of scizzors. I've never had a problem with a seam-ripper on a handsewn bit of stitching, but if you're paranoid, then scizzors are safer for sure.

Scalpel blade...now there's a good idea.

[plaid preacher]

It may be that I am being over-cautious, but I will tug and wiggle on the fabric in hopes of finding a stitch that is just a little loose; then snip the stitch. From there I just use a straight pin to pull the stitches out. Voila! No fear of ripping the fabric as opposed to the stitches.

[Barb T]

Definitely don't take out a pleat that you're happy with! The only time you'd do that is if you missed a pleat or something.

Plaid Preacher did a good job describing the way to cut the back of the pleat so that you can get your fingers in. As he said, you're going to cut all that out anyway. Just stop the slit about 1" above the bottom of the fell.

Also like Plaid Preacher, I do a little tugging before I try to snip stitches. That way, you can see what to cut - your magnifier will help a lot. Just pull the two sides apart a little, and snip the thread that you can see. Just don't pull hard enough to pull the threads in the weave of the fabric. Scissors or seam ripper? I don't think it matters, as long as you can cut one thread at a time. You definitely don't want to run a seam ripper along the edge of a pleat the way you would with machine stitching on cotton, for example, but there's absolutely no reason that you can't slide a seam ripper under one thread and use it instead of a pair of scissors. Because you have big hands it will likely be easier for you to do this than to use tiny knife-edge scissors, as Steve says.