my first diy

**Aldisimo** · 26th July 08, 08:06 PM

I'm planning my first DIY with this fabric, a polyester-rayon blend:

Sorry, I don't have a digital camera so I had to scan it.

You can see a series of holes next to the selvedge, I guess where the fabric was hooked onto something. Should I hem the kilt to hide them, or will they close up while I'm working with the fabric, or maybe in the laundry? It's hard to tell whether they're between the threads or might have pierced the threads, which would cause ravelling later on.

I'm planning to pleat to the group of stripes in the middle of the broad white stripe [7/8"], so that the white is exposed when the pleat opens. Does anyone have a better idea?

Thanks for any help and advice!

**turpin** · 27th July 08, 06:32 AM

From the pic it looks like the fabric doesn't have an adequate kilting selvedge, more of a fringe, so I would put in a hem.

BTW, the holes are a normal feature in a selvedge. They tend not to be so apparent in wool, but do show and more or less stay in PV/poly-rayon, at least until a couple of washings.

**george7** · 27th July 08, 07:44 AM

Is that a defective bolt of cloth? Maybe you could exchange it. It would save you the hemming process.

**Carolina Kiltman** · 27th July 08, 08:08 AM

The fabric you have does not have a kilting selvedge, so you may want to cut off the fringe, bind-stitch (sometimes it is called whip-stitching) then turn the hem. Don't worry, our band has a new set of kilts, all of which have a hem, and the only way you can tell is to get real close and turn up the fabric and look.

**Dixiecat** · 27th July 08, 08:58 AM

That series of holes does not mean your length of fabric is defective in anyway. It means that at one point the fabric was stretched on a tenter, using tenterhooks. You've all heard that expression, I'm on tenterhooks?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tenterhooks

Btw, those holes will never go away. It's a hem for you boyo!

**Doomsday** · 27th July 08, 01:19 PM

A hemmed kilt is a perfectly normal thing so don't worry about it too much. Keep us posted on the project. It should look nice when all's said and done.