Quote Originally Posted by The Wizard of BC View Post
With a machine sewn Kilt, just by the nature of the beast, will always show the line of stitching. Rocky at USA Kilts used to open the pleat he was sewing and would then fold the fabric back over, hiding the stitch line. But this is very time consuming.
I agree with pretty much all of what was said by Matt and Steve. I would like to make 1 small clarification to the above point...

On our 5 Yard kilts and Semi Trads and casuals, we 'top stitch' the material to save time (and cost to the customer)... as do many 'casual' kilt makers. You can pick a thread color that blends in with the tartan and there are ways to 'camouflage' the stitching by hiding it in a certain color on the tartan.

Our Premier 8 Yard kilts (and MOST companies that make Machine Sewn 8 yarders) are sewn 'inside out' to hide the stitching. If you take the good side of the fabric and put it together facing the good side of the fabric, you can pin the 'future pleat' down the fell and machine sew it on the bad side(s). When you take out the pins and open the fabric up, you don't see any stitching, b/c it's all on the 'bad side'.

There ARE parts of a PROPER machine sewn kilt (as described above) that MUST be hand sewn... the horsehair canvas lining, the liner, etc. It MUST be hand sewn or the stitches will show through the outside.

A PROPER Machine sewn (and part hand sewn) kilt could be put next to a traditional 'tank' and 99.999% of the people wouldn't notice the difference. They're both works of art made for an individual.

As Matt said, I've seen horrible and EXCELLENT examples of Machine Sewn kilts just as I've seen horrible and excellent examples of HAND sewn kilts. It's all in the maker and how well they use their needle and thread.... whether it's powered by electricity or their fingers.