Machine Made Kilt Problems...

[richardljohnson]

I did buy the 'extra' lifter foot (suppose to come down on the top piece of fabric while the foot lifts to create a "clamping" action). This works about 1 out of 5 stitches. This is a new machine so I am still getting the feel for it but I am still having problems after about 400 practice and 50 real stitches. Just looking for some extra ideas. I will look at the teflon and seeing about adjusting the foot.

Richard-

[mddock58]

Some machines have a "Walking Foot" attachment that guides the top at the same speed as the feed dogs to help eliminate shifting of the fabric.

[Barb T]

The "offset stripe" problem plagues those who make hand-stitched kilts as well (just look at the back of kilts at Highland games, and you'll see that lots of people don't get it right there, either)! The best solution, as Steve says, is careful offset and, for machine stitching, holding the fabric tight and taught. If the fabric is under tension from front to back as it feeds through the machine, the top layer is less likely to crawl. And do all the things with the feet and the feed dogs that you can. A quilting foot can help, which is maybe what you already have.

Barb

[The Wizard of BC]

I don't really call myself a professional seamstress. I'm a hack when compared to those ladies that sew for real.

Let me try to describe a technic they use.

Professional machines have what is called a knee lift. All three of my Professional machines have them. It's a bar that you move with your knee that will lift the foot, allowing you to use both hands to control the fabric.

Pros sew in short fast bursts. First they grasp the fabric with one hand behind the foot. Then they position the fabric in front of the foot with the other. Then they pull the fabric taut between their two hands. This stretching of the fabric locks it in position, top and bottom, with no chance of slipping.
Then they start the machine and allow the feed dogs to pull both hands and the fabric thru for about 2-3 inches. Then they stop. re-position their hands and repeat.
I have found this to be the biggest help in accurate stitching. Only when doing long lines of stitches using a guide do I run the machine in long runs.

After seeing the magnificant work Rocky and Kelly at USAKilts do, I tried a machine sewn Tartan. This technic of pulling the fabric taut between my hands and locking the top and bottom together for a short burst, and then setting up for the next burst, was the secret I found that worked best. The machine will pull the fabric, and your hands, through. If you pull to hard with your bsck hand and retard the fabric, your stitch length will be short. If you try to pull the fabric thru the machine with you top hand, your stitch length will be long. Just let the maching pull both hands thru evenly while you concentrate on keeping tension on the fabric and watching to keep your stitch line straight and the pattern lined up.

A Professional uses the same foot for 99 44/100's of all their work. It's not the foot, machine, or any other gimmick that does the job for you. Those things are helpers only. Hand to eye coordination, care, taking your time, and having pride in your work are the secret.

Get real good at ripping out a line of stitches. I seemed to rip out three lines for every one I got right in the beginning. The machine is just a machine. It can't do the work for you. It just stitches faster.

This is why some people believe you can still call a machine sewn garment "hand made". It's because it's your hands, not the machine that do the work. You simply use the machine to push the needle through the fabric while you sew.

The kilts Barb makes are so far beyond anything I do. They are works of art not simply hand made kilts. I've sat on Barb's deck with some of her kilts in my hand and .........let me just say, not one stitch is visible in any of her pleats. Not one line of the tartan is mis-aligned. Not one pattern off center.
No machine stitched kilt will ever come even close to the perfection of a Barb Tewksbury hand stitched kilt.

Then their are the rest of us. We do the best we can. We take pride in the job we do. And we dream of owning a true hand sewn kilt.

[richardljohnson]

I agree on the hand stitching. I have 2 kilts made about 25 years ago and the work is amazing.

I will try the 'tighten up' more plus I have lengthened the stitch about 1/2 more on the dial and this has helped greatly. Thanks for all the suggestions. I guess I'm down to the'just need experience' part of it.

Richard-

[The Wizard of BC]

Another trick you can try is a small zig-zag stitch.

On average a single yarn of your fabric will be approx. 1/32". Set your stitch length to catch about every third yarn. And set your stitch width to just catch one or two yarns of the fold of the top pleat.

Use Barb's method of stitching only one pleat at a time. Use lots of pins. In both horizontal and vertical directions.

Then guide your fabric thru the machine so that the zig-zag on the right stitches just off the top pleat, ("stitch in the ditch") and on the left just catches the top pleat.

If you are using a thread color slightly darker than the color of the fabric, your stitches will almost dissapear. And the small stitches, through just four layers of fabric, allow the whole pleat to still move and adjust itself.

This produces the closest thing to hand stitching you can hope for.