the little bits of hem in a properly-made kilt

[The Wizard of BC]

Pleater,

I do the same pulling up of the pleats at the waist. But I do it for a different reason. I call it "Pre-curling".

Because my fabrics have a tendency to curl outward I have spent a lot of time finding ways to prevent curling.
One thing I found that improves the look of the aprons is to pull up on the "in-pleats" slightly. This builds in a slight amount of roll to the apron edges.
Now when worn the aprons roll gently around the legs and don't curl outward.

[Bugbear]

I'm very thankful you posted this and the other information at that link, Barb. It shows us some of the things to look for in a proper, traditional kilt and kiltmaker. Probably best to know a little about how a kilt is made before you have one made like turpin said.

[Bugbear]

Good deal, scottography. I put those two hems on my SWK kilts after adding the stabilizer to each of the kilts. We had talked about that.

The SWK construction also seems to include some kind of underapron angling that keeps the bottom from showing for the most part, but I put the hem there anyway.

On the first pleat, there was no hem either, and it does show at times. The apron edge re-shaping on that side has to be done before the hem can be put in, though.

[Bugbear]

Just finished the modification Ted and it's beaut mate! Did the trick. It was the only thing that was upsetting me about my new kilt (it had the pleat hem).

In case I forgot to mention a while ago, I completed the addition of the stabiliser to my other kilt and it worked a treat. I feel more confident that it will extend the life of the kilt. Pity they don't add that simple stabiliser when they make them. Hmm.

I just can't help but fiddle!

Scotty

That's great! When I put the stabilizer in my kilt, thanks to Barb and the Wizard's information, it fit better in that area. It's not perfect, but a lot better and I can tell that there really isn't any stress on the fell stitches...

I'm thinking about putting canvis in the aprons as another improvement some time later on.

[Kiltman]

I raise the outer edge of the under apron pleats at the waist, so there is a triangle of double fabric 1/4 to 1/2 an inch higher than the rest of the top edge of the aprons, tapering down to nothing at the start of the pleats.

Fascinating.

Anne the Pleater

Love to see an illustration of this. Is it possible?

[sydnie7]

Love to see an illustration of this. Is it possible?

I've tried this approach and it results in some awkwardness in the front apron hang. Better, IMHO, to hem up the inner fold of that pleat as Barb T describes.

[Bugbear]

Well... I think Pleater is talking about raising, or changing the angle of the underapron. I'm not sure how that would effect the top apron hang... Seems like what she is doing is to change the angle of the reverse pleat at the top of the right hand side . that makes the end of the under apron higher at it's end than the waistband, then that extra material is folded back down and hemmed at the top.

That would make the underapron's bottom edge angle upward as well.

Barb is making the reverse pleat differently, though, if I understand it all.

[sydnie7]

You're right, I read this one too quickly. Pleater has posted before about doing this to top apron pleat, which is where it doesn't work too well (in my experience). Doing this at underapron works OK as long as, on a machine-sewn kilt, you haven't already topstitched apron edges.

All in all, I prefer Barb's hemming method to the "raise the pleat edge at top" method. More controllable results.