Help with xkilt instructions

[kd0afk]

Hey guys, I took some extra fabric (always buy extra fabric) and got my kilt material back to it's original length and put the deep pleat back on, stitched it down, this time as a square apron. It still kind of flares out in the front but I think a good bath in the washing machine will help loosen it up a bit. One more question, when I wear it, the pleats tend to curl in a concave manner. What is the best way to iron the pleats so that they wrap around. This is kind of hard to explain but imagine you have a kilt on and you look down, and the pleats look like little gutters. I don't want that, what I want is them to be flat strips or slightly curved with the edges of the pleat closer to my body than the center. I hope this is clear.
I want the whole thing to look like this from the top:
Not this:

[KiltedBrewer]

For your pleat problem, a bit of spray starch on the outer pleat faces when you press it might do the trick. I'm sure that there is a sewing solution to your pleat problem, but I'm afraid I don't know what it is.

David

[Alan H]

Hey guys, I took some extra fabric (always buy extra fabric) and got my kilt material back to it's original length and put the deep pleat back on, stitched it down, this time as a square apron. It still kind of flares out in the front but I think a good bath in the washing machine will help loosen it up a bit.

Excellent! Pictures, pictures!!

One more question, when I wear it, the pleats tend to curl in a concave manner. What is the best way to iron the pleats so that they wrap around. This is kind of hard to explain but imagine you have a kilt on and you look down, and the pleats look like little gutters. I don't want that, what I want is them to be flat strips or slightly curved with the edges of the pleat closer to my body than the center. I hope this is clear.

I iron mine flat, but there's a little dip in the middle because the inside folds of the pleats don't meet in the middle. There's about a 3/8 inch gap built in, so that there's not so much bulk around the waistband. Anyway, "flat" is about the best I can do with the iron. Washing it may change things, so don't stress.

[kd0afk]

Maybe I'm being a bit over critical about it. I am thinking of when it is done, basting the pleats and taking it to a dry cleaner and have them roll press it. Might help. But then again when it is washed and ironed (with starch) it may just work itself out.

[Pleater]

I think that you are more likely to get the outward curl if you make the visible pleat slightly wider than the two folds behind it from the bottom of the fell to the lower edge, then the two edges will tend to but together and the outer pleat to be concave - but you need to have enough ease in the pleats to allow that to happen - the measurement should be the inner folds only, not including the gap between them.

You would need to shape the fell carefully, and perhaps from lower down than normal in order not to look like a tea cosy,

Anne the Pleater :ootd: