contemporary box pleat kilt: an ongoing thread

**Alan H** · 23rd July 06, 11:49 AM

After I finish these two (got to get prototype #2 done by Friday!) I will be making two more in navy blue cotton-poly twill. One of them is for MOI! I am going to try to have them done by the August Beer Night so that three of the four prototypes will available for inspection. Also we can have it available for display at the Pleasanton Games, if we actually get a booth at the Games.

I've made a little change and now you need TWO buttons, not one *grin*...and a machine with a buttonhole setting or attachment........that or a LOT of patience to hand-sew two buttonholes!

After that, I'll do more revisions on the instructions, and then send 'em to the Moderators so they can be made available for download, here at X-Marks for anyone that wants 'em.

**pdcorlis** · 23rd July 06, 11:52 AM

Alan

All I can say is "Yabba Dabba Do!" I can't wait to see the results of all your hard work.

**way2fractious** · 24th July 06, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by Panache

Alan,

You are one industrious fellow! You have to make Dan and Jason promise to wear their kilts for the August beer night. Walkerk and I won't be able to make this Friday and really want to see your finished work!

Cheers

This is really sad, but when my wife jets off to visit kids and grandkids, all I get to do is drive to Belmont.

So, I'll be there Friday with my trusty and overused digital camera to document this debutante party!

(Oh, what to wear... what to wear...? Dress up, dress down? Tartan, solid, camo, Hawaiian print? Wool, cotton, blend? Claymore, dirk, bagpipes? Skian dubh, skian don't, scissors?)

**Livingston** · 24th July 06, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by way2fractious

(Oh, what to wear... what to wear...? Dress up, dress down? Tartan, solid, camo, Hawaiian print? Wool, cotton, blend? Claymore, dirk, bagpipes? Skian dubh, skian don't, scissors?)

Tartan, Hawaiian print shirt, claymore, dirk, bagpipes and scissors...just don't run

**Alan H** · 24th July 06, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by way2fractious

This is really sad, but when my wife jets off to visit kids and grandkids, all I get to do is drive to Belmont.

So, I'll be there Friday with my trusty and overused digital camera to document this debutante party!

(Oh, what to wear... what to wear...? Dress up, dress down? Tartan, solid, camo, Hawaiian print? Wool, cotton, blend? Claymore, dirk, bagpipes? Skian dubh, skian don't, scissors?)

Please DO bring your camera, 'cause I'm not having any success with this one, though to be fair, I've been mostly sewing rather than messing with the camera.

**Alan H** · 24th July 06, 05:41 PM

OK, so basically, I made a kilt today.

That's right, in one day, starting at 8:30 AM, with half an hour for lunch and stopping at 4:00 PM, I made Prototype #2. OK, OK, this is not *quite* true because I'd already cut out the fabric and attached the velcro to the over-apron. Mind you, this included ripping out and re-sewing half of the box pleat "sewn-edges" because I messed up the bobbin tension.

And to be honest, I've decided that these canvas jobs need the INSIDE fold of the box pleat sewn down, too, at the botom where it's hemmed. Also, this kilt is for a somewhat smaller guy than prototype #1, so there was one less pleat. Still and all, I feel pretty good about this. I mean, this one needed a lot of tapering, which I pulled off with a bit of hand-sewing to get the taper just right before I machine-sewed the fell.

OK, so let's figure this out. I have about an hours more fussing to do with prototype #2 to stitch down the Inside folds of the box pleats. So from 8:30 to 4:00 today, with a half-hour break, that's 7 hours, right? OK add in an hour to stitch in the inside of the box pleats, and that's 8 hours.

I had 15.75 hours into the two kilts when I added it up, last. Add this 8 hours to that 15.75 and you get 23.75 hours. So that averages out to 12 hours of work per kilt. BTW, prototype #2 went significantly faster than #1, just whizzed through it because I had the concept in my head.

So if it takes you, dear reader and novice kiltmaker, an hour to read my instructions and then one and a half times as long to make your X-Kilt as it takes me to make an X-Kilt , that means that you can get one of these puppies built in about 18 hours of work. Incidentally, that's how long it took me to make my first machine-sewn canvas kilt, knowing absolutely nothing and just flying totally by the seat of my.....kilt.

That sounds like a lot of time, but it's not so bad.

On Saturday you go shopping (that doesn't count in the total hours because shopping is entertainment *grin*) and buy the fabric and the thread and the velcro. If you start after dinner on Saturday, say at 7:00 and work until 10:00 you'll make a good start. Then on Sunday you put in 4 more hours in the afternoon. Now on Monday and Wednesday and Friday, after dinner you work on it again from 7:00 to 10:00. That's sixteen hours. If you jump on it the next Saturday morning, you can have it ready to wear by Saturday afternoon, or Sunday afternoon. You can stretch it out over two weeks, no problem. This is a TOTALLY do-able project...

it's cheap

it's fun

you'll have a kilt when you're done AND....

you will absolutely appreciate why kilts, both contemporary and traditional kilts, cost what they do.

I'm looking forward to taking a crack at the cotton/poly twill for my X-Kilt and the one for KCW. KCW wants cargo pockets on his, so I'm gonna have to figure out how to make cargo pockets.

**Pleater** · 24th July 06, 06:15 PM

Really interesting thread - I hand sew my kilts at the moment, but will have to go back to the machine to finish some heavier kilts I started before the weather warmed up.

I have not yet timed any part of my kilt making as I now set them by my chair and work at them whenever I sit down to watch the TV.

That seems to be the most effortless way of getting them done, though it does take a couple of weeks due to my being so persnickerty about the pleats being exactly even.

I think that when the first few are done and some confidence is gained in your ability it is less nerve wracking, and faster, but there is definitely a lower limit on the time required to make a good kilt.

You need to have the time be able to get things aligned right, rip out mistakes, and generally cosset and preen the thing into its full potential, or you are really letting down the fabric, and your customers.

**KiltedCodeWarrior** · 24th July 06, 07:38 PM

And Alan, I am looking forward to the instructions with pics! I can follow a computer manual (with no pics) written by a tech writer in Taiwan, writing about software from Australia, and overseen by a project manager from India, with no problems and no pics, but some of the issues encountered with kilt making as a novice overwhelm me. Your directions are not the problem, it is just me trying to visualize it that is lacking. Looking forward to the X-Kilt making guide for dummies!