AK pleating

[TheKiltedCoder]

Hi, All,

When I first started, my first two kilts were black AKs. While I LOVE the weight of them, the 100% cotton tend to (as someone else noted) wrinkle when someone looks at it funny. The pleats tend not to do well, either: the front edge was sewn. but the back edge was not.

Well, last night I finally got took a look at things last night, and decided I'd try an experiment. I ironed the beejeebers out of one of my two AKs, whipped out Grandma's old Singer, and stitched the back pleats all the way around.

It's having a slightly odd effect: On one side, it's making the pleats "stand out" just a little, and on the other, it's increasing the curl on the backside. I'm not sure whether I'll leave it this way or not (and, when pressed, both kilts still look very sharp).

Just as a word to the wise, though. There doesn't seem to be much of a way here to sew these pleats down and keep them looking like you'd just got done ironing the kilt.

As an afterthought, though: I also needed the practice sewing pleats as I get to that stage of my XKilt.

[ChattanCat]

If you want to hold a pleat, get wool. That material is amazing how you can press it and it holds a pleat, no sewing required.

[kmehrtens]

That is the problem with 100% Cotton. Take it from a person who has to iron pants and a shirt everyday for work. The 2 kilts that I have made they were a 65/35 Polyester/Cotton Blend and they still need a good hot iron with steam to give them a finishing touch. I stitched/sewn both the outside pleat and in inside pleat to help with the look. With that said, even a day of wearing the kilt it is still wrinkled a little, like a pair of pants. Good Luck with your X-Kilt.