Hand sewn vs. machine sewn

[arrogcow]

Despite what has been said by others, the stitching on my 5 yard machine stitched from Scottishkilts.net is invisible. On the other hand, my tank from Thoman Gordon and sons, has clearly visible stitching on every pleat (by visible, I mean if you are with in a foot or so).

Adam

[Barb T]

Well, stitching on a hand-sewn kilt _shouldn't_ be visible, the stripes should match perfectly, and color boundaries shouldn't wobble around in a pleat. But, not every kiltmaker is meticulous. That's why it pays to know who's making your kilt if these things matter to you.

Machine-stitching kilt pleats from the outside (which is how most machine-stitched kilts are made) is very obvious. I agree with Matt that it's easy to spot and makes a kilt not look like a trad kilt but rather like a kilt skirt.

Machine-stitching kilt pleats from the inside (as described by Rocky) is exceptionally difficult to do well and to make truly precise in terms of stripe-matching, centering of stripes or color boundaries, pleat size, and precise taper for a good fit. My hat is off to Rocky for being able to do it well.

Me, I'm a traditionalist. I do everything by hand, even the fringe edge. Well, that's a teensy lie. If I'm home when I'm working on a kilt, I _do_ stitch the top band on by machine, but that's it. And, if I'm traveling, I even do that by hand. Takes me about 20 hours to make a kilt, a bit more if it's a really big one. But, personally, I think all the hand work makes a better final product.

Barb

[RockyR]

Machine-stitching kilt pleats from the inside (as described by Rocky) is exceptionally difficult to do well and to make truly precise in terms of stripe-matching, centering of stripes or color boundaries, pleat size, and precise taper for a good fit. My hat is off to Rocky for being able to do it well.

Thanks! I'm honored! If you pin every pleat PRECISELY about 10 times (down the length of the fell) and keep the 2 layers taut and straight, it will produce a perfect pleat 5 out of 6 times. If you don't hold the material straight or taut enough or if your pinning was off by a thread or 2, the horizontal lines will have the "step up" effect and you'll have to tear out the pleat and start over.

It's a matter of personal prefference. If you prefer hand sewing and do it WELL (Like Barb) and are PATIENT, then hand sewing a kilt may be better for you. If you HATE hand sewing (like I do), you'll have to be good at machine sewing to make the stitches invisible.

To shoot a compliment back at her... My hat's off to YOU Barb. I don't hav the patience or ability to hand sew an ENTIRE Kilt. The Canvas and Cotton linings are enough!

[Manu]

Well, thanks a lot to our resident kiltmakers for answering my questions.