Impressions of my dry cleaner...

[BroosterB1]

Thanks for reminding me! My PC and Argyle are in the back of my car and I need to take em to the cleaners. I almost forgot!

I just got an inquiry for a wedding with all the 9 yards of ceremonies (pinning tartan, Family sword, broach, honor guard) so I'll need to be nice and proper. ith:

[lethearen]

When I got an off-the-rack kilt a year or so ago, I took it to my cleaner to have the hem raised a couple inches. The girl at the counter checking it in couldn't figure out what to call it. After finally settling on "garment" she called the actual tailor to take a look and give me an estimate. The look on his face was priceless as he pulled back the apron... and a length of hem... and another length of hem... and another... and another. Half way through, he started cracking up at the sheer magnitude of the task I put before him.

A week later, I picked it up and saw that he'd done a fantastic job setting the hem and repressing the pleats. If I ever do dry-clean instead of hand washing, I'm definitely taking my kilts to him.

[jForrester]

When I got an off-the-rack kilt a year or so ago, I took it to my cleaner to have the hem raised a couple inches. The girl at the counter checking it in couldn't figure out what to call it. After finally settling on "garment" she called the actual tailor to take a look and give me an estimate. The look on his face was priceless as he pulled back the apron... and a length of hem... and another length of hem... and another... and another. Half way through, he started cracking up at the sheer magnitude of the task I put before him.

A week later, I picked it up and saw that he'd done a fantastic job setting the hem and repressing the pleats. If I ever do dry-clean instead of hand washing, I'm definitely taking my kilts to him.

"Hem"? On a kilt? It is my understanding that the bottom is the selvage. A hem would affect the lay of the pleats.

[Chas]

"Hem"? On a kilt? It is my understanding that the bottom is the selvage. A hem would affect the lay of the pleats.

In an ideal world, yes, the selvedge is the bottom, but hemming a kilt is a well established practise. Many boy's kilts are sold with a large hem (up to 4") to accommodate the frequent growth spurts. A boy can grow 4" in height and gain barely an inch on waist or chest.

If the kilt is hemmed properly, the hem cannot be discerned. I wear a MacLeod with a hem - no one would know unless I told them.

There is also the pendulum effect - more weight is added to the swinging end of the pendulum arm, causing more swish!

Regards

Chas

[jForrester]

In an ideal world, yes, the selvedge is the bottom, but hemming a kilt is a well established practise. Many boy's kilts are sold with a large hem (up to 4") to accommodate the frequent growth spurts. A boy can grow 4" in height and gain barely an inch on waist or chest.

If the kilt is hemmed properly, the hem cannot be discerned. I wear a MacLeod with a hem - no one would know unless I told them.

There is also the pendulum effect - more weight is added to the swinging end of the pendulum arm, causing more swish!

Regards

Chas

If you say so. My kiltmaker says absolutely a selvage at the bottom, or it won't swing right. A hem stiffens it. Of course, both my kilts were made 25+ years ago, so maybe.........

[Chas]

If you say so. My kiltmaker says absolutely a selvage at the bottom, or it won't swing right. A hem stiffens it. Of course, both my kilts were made 25+ years ago, so maybe.........

I am not a kiltmaker - the best advice is to speak to Barb T, who is. All I know is that we have had many threads about how to do it and of course my own kilt which is hemmed.

Regards

Chas

[Spc. Scott]

My double box pleat from Lady Chrystel is hemmed and I can attest that the swing is fantastic. From what I understand, the hemming in her kilts is standard procedure.

If I'm wrong in this I hope someone will correct me.

[Pleater]

I have quite a few hemmed kilts, for various reasons non of which is that they were too long.

The selvage edge can be quite stiff in itself, if it a tucked selvage, where all the weft threads are doubled up, but I don't think that it makes any real difference.

Surely the swing is from the folds - not the edge.

Having perfected the art of walking along so the lampposts cast my shadow before me, so revealing the movement of the kilt in real time, there appears to be no discernable difference between selvaged kilts turned up to hide the selvage, either tufted or folded style, hemmed kilts and free selvaged kilts.

Narrow pleats do not swing as far as narrow ones, but there seems to be a limit as to how much a kilt swings which is not increased by deepening the pleats any further. I noticed this when reducing the waist size on my first kilts as I lost weight.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[lethearen]

"Hem"? On a kilt? It is my understanding that the bottom is the selvage. A hem would affect the lay of the pleats.

Well, it wasn't wool, it was quasi-PV. Poly-acrylic, I believe? Anyway, the fabric didn't have a kilting selvedge. Thus it was hemmed from the factory and sold in stock length (24"). I'm short, hence needing the hem raised

My tailor did a remarkable job so the pleats don't lay awkwardly at all. And the swing is still rather comparable to my properly selvedged 8x16 woolie.

[jForrester]

Well, it wasn't wool, it was quasi-PV. Poly-acrylic, I believe? Anyway, the fabric didn't have a kilting selvedge. Thus it was hemmed from the factory and sold in stock length (24"). I'm short, hence needing the hem raised

My tailor did a remarkable job so the pleats don't lay awkwardly at all. And the swing is still rather comparable to my properly selvedged 8x16 woolie.

Oops, my bad. I didn't notice that it wasn't a traditional woolen kilt.

But the other comments are interesting. Just proves that after 27+ years of wearing the kilt, I can still learn something.