Machine stitches that look hand-sewn

[Alan H]

I sewed up my box pleat California Tartan "from the inside" by carefully pinning and tapering beforehand. It came out just great and you can't see the stitches at all...AND....it was FAST.

[Tartan Hiker]

I sewed up my box pleat California Tartan "from the inside" by carefully pinning and tapering beforehand. It came out just great and you can't see the stitches at all...AND....it was FAST.

Additionally...no one will ever be able to produce as many stitches per inch with a needle and thread, so machine sewing the pleats together will always result in a stronger structure.

In my opinion (for what it's worth) I can't feel the difference between machine and hand sewn tapers, and if someone is close enough to see the stitches, they're probably too close!

And with that gem of wisdom I become a Kilted Noble!!!!!

[Barb T]

This technique is a lot harder with tartan than it is with fabrics that are either solid color or don't have anything that has to be matched across the pleat. It is _very hard_ to machine stitch a seam and not have the top layer of fabric shear a little with respect to the bottom layer. If it slides, the tartan stripes don't match.

Rocky is _really good_ at this. He's developed a technique for pulling fore and aft that minimizes the shear. But, even at that, he takes out pleats if they aren't perfect.

Bottom line, it takes practice to be good at this with tartan, and you have to be prepared to rip out the stitches if they don't meet your standards!

Cheers,

Barb

[Erisianmonkey]

I'm in awe of anyone who can pull the technique off effectively with tartan. I've tried it with several pieces of scraps, and it is a beastly hard thing to get the line up exactly right and then get the stitching in just the right place. Even once I determine I've become good enough at kiltmaking that I'll offer my services out for hire to the general public, I don't know that I'll be using this technique. It's also my feeling that while a machine sewn kilt that doesn't use this technique will never have the look of a hand sewn, the way it (a machine sewn that does not use this technique) looks has a definite appeal to me. The look of the stitching down the pleats on my kilts has kind of a chunky, tough, "we're here to stay, live with it" feel to it for me. That is not to say of course that I'm not dying for one of Rocky's semi-trads. (Ah the perils of being a broke college student with an expensive addiction.)

[thescot]

I'm in awe of anyone who can pull the technique off effectively with tartan. . . .)

Heck. I'm in awe of all the stuff you guys are talking about here, period .

I never would have believed that I would have been glued to the tube reading an account of how to sew something as if I were reading a novel, but this is one of the most interesting and informative threads (no pun intended) we've had in a while.

I gotta get me one of those sewing machines! I keep looking at those Singers on Home Shopping Network and thinking, "bet I could make a kilt if I had one of those things."

You guys are more danderous than you know, especially when Rockey and Barb weigh in. I like what pdcoloris said: "Ask Rocky - he knows..."