First Trad Kilt: an ongoing thread

[Alan H]

FAntastic Barb. I owe this thread an update, but it's a small one, I just basted the over-apron, no great shakes. But tonight is my first pleat! I'll be doing it like this for SURE....

MANY thanks for the excellent pictures, they're very helpful. That Wallace tartan is sure gorgeous.

Thanks for the link to buying the buckles and straps, too, KMacT

[Barb T]

Ooh ooh! Let us know how your first pleat goes!

Cheers,

Barb

[Barb T]

Hi Alan..what's the word on your kilt progress?

Barb

[Alan H]

I sewed two pleats then looked at them closely and said NUH-uh.....and proceeded to rip them out. I might have time to re-do them this morning, though. I have GOT to buy some chalk. I'm faking it with really thin strips of masking tape.

I'm at a conference this afternoon through Wednesday, so I won't be able to work on it. However, I'll be kilted at the Gala Reception (at the Monterey Bay Aquarium) in my "budget dressy" kilt getup that I wrote about a while ago, so I'll post pics of that.

[Alan H]

But I can write up this.

I laid out the size of the over apron a couple of days ago. This is a fairly simple process, following Barbs instructions. I started at the right hand edge of the fabric and found a strong line in the pattern for my center line.

Here are my splits:

__________measurement____apron_______pleats____
waist ........41 inches.............21...............20
hips.......... 46 inches.............22...............24

The center line I picked is about 18 inches from the right edge of the fabric. It's actually a thin red line between two of the wide, dark lines in the tartan. Anyway, I marked the center line and marked the left hand and right hand edge of the over-apron, adding an extra inch to the right hand edge, as per Barb's instructions.

I came down 2 inches from the top of the kilt, straight, to make the waistband, and then flared out from there to the hip measurement. From that point I kept going out to the "selvedge" (such as it is) and there's now 1 3/4 inch A-Shape from the hip measurement to the bottom of the kilt. I'm a bit concerned that 1 3/4 inch per side is not enough...

Thoughts on that, anybody? For all practical purposes the front edges of the apron are straight lines from the bottom of the waistband to the selvedge. It just sort of worked out that way.

I found my center line by just folding the cloth in half. I chose the strong line that was to the left (by about 1/2 a sett) of the actual mid-point of the cloth. When I count back from my center line to the left edge of the apron I get 14 setts (or pseudo-setts, remember that this is a wierd tartan) , which is just right. I want a HONKIN deep first pleat under the left edge of the apron because I've had so much grief from all my previous kilts about the apron and the first pleat pulling forward. It looks like the dickens. NOT gonna happen, here!

Anyway, if you refer to posts up above, you'll see that I decided on 24 pleats in my kilt with a 1-inch reveal per pleat. That covers the 24 inches of my hip split, just right. So having 14 setts from the left edge of the apron to the center line is about right, as that will nicely accomodate the 12 pleats I'll be putting there.

[Barb T]

Hi Alan

Just a few things:

Did you pick the same center back stripe that you did for the front of the kilt? Traditional kilts typically have the same stripe centered front and back.

Having a really deep first pleat isn't actually the solution to the problem of the first pleat "kicking forward". In fact, having a really deep first pleat can add problems of its own, so don't overdo it. Ideally, the deep pleat should be around 5" deep. Keeping it from kicking forward is a combination of following the instructions about skewing the back of the tartan when shaping by pulling up on the back of the pleat when you baste it into shape and also making sure that you have enough flare from the hips down. The apron edges shouldn't be straight but should flare some. But, again, you can overdo it. My experience, with a waist/hip pleat differential of only 1/2" on each side (as you have) that 1 3/4" is actually too much. But, you can always baste it and try it on once it's pleated but before it's pressed to see if the apron edge wants to fold in a different place than you've basted.

Are you pleating to the stripe? If so, an even number of pleats is OK. But, if you're pleating to the sett, and you've chosen a center back stripe, you have to have an odd number of pleats.

Cheers!

Barb

[flyv65]

Wow.

No really-

WOW.

It is threads like this that show the breadth of knowledge present on this board, and just how much goes into stitching a kilt. My Balmoral is off to all of the kiltmakers, amateur or professional. Slainte.

Bryan...it doesn't make waiting for a kilt easier to bear, but it does make it more understandable...

[Alan H]

Hi Alan

Just a few things:

Did you pick the same center back stripe that you did for the front of the kilt? Traditional kilts typically have the same stripe centered front and back.

Having a really deep first pleat isn't actually the solution to the problem of the first pleat "kicking forward". In fact, having a really deep first pleat can add problems of its own, so don't overdo it. Ideally, the deep pleat should be around 5" deep. Keeping it from kicking forward is a combination of following the instructions about skewing the back of the tartan when shaping by pulling up on the back of the pleat when you baste it into shape and also making sure that you have enough flare from the hips down. The apron edges shouldn't be straight but should flare some. But, again, you can overdo it. My experience, with a waist/hip pleat differential of only 1/2" on each side (as you have) that 1 3/4" is actually too much. But, you can always baste it and try it on once it's pleated but before it's pressed to see if the apron edge wants to fold in a different place than you've basted.

Are you pleating to the stripe? If so, an even number of pleats is OK. But, if you're pleating to the sett, and you've chosen a center back stripe, you have to have an odd number of pleats.

Cheers!

Barb

Barb, I did pick the same center back stripe as I picked for the front of the kilt, but it's a moot point. I'm pleating to the stripe, but I'm pleating to a minor stripe in the pattern, because the strongest ones are'nt "symmetrical".

I really picked a stinker of a tartan to start with, you know? This'll have 24 pleats, each with a 1-inch reveal at the hip measurement.

I've started sewing pleats. The first one (under the left-hand edge of the apron) is going to be about 7 inches deep. About 5 of those inches will be actually under the apron, in two, 2.5 inch bits of material to make one 5 inch deep pleat.