Difficulty Repressing the Pleats

[PiperOfThePlains]

PiperofThePlains,

About having your Black Watch friend work on your kilt.

It will all depend on who made the kilt in the first place. If you kilt is made in the Regimental style that your kiltmaker learned, then yes, he could probably fix it.

If your kilt was made with a different method he may not know how to fix it.

All you can do is ask him.

After he left the services, he was a kiltmaker. I'll see to asking him.

[McRoy]

I may be a verra bad person, but my drycleaner did an excellent job of pressing my military kilt back in the day. I never attempted to do it myself. :-)

[SMOKEnPipesJim]

I can tell you guys, That one of the things I learned quite quickly about Highland Garb, is Its well worth Buying a Kinda Small Steamer device, Less a steam Iron as a Heated quart of Water, Hang the Kilt as you would wear it , Steam the inner Apron and Inside the pleats, as it hangs (from the inside 1st) and then do the inner part of the outside apron..... refill and then steam the outside if it even needs to be touched up outside.... a) the steam freshens the wool quite simply b) it also deals with infestation somewhat, and If you get in the habit of touching it up regularly you have less of a job fixing the pleats.. (even less if you don't wear it sitting in the car for 6 hours etc...)..

I'll tell you that this works best on Heaviest Kilts (of course) better and thin Kilts and other option kilt materials will be a problem But, If you hang it and steam it right away .... every time, maybe even spray starch inside out carefully.... Not sure...

[tundramanq]

If the wonky pleats are pressed in, press them out before trying to re-pleat correctly. It saves fighting the old creases when laying it out, basting and then pressing.

[Pleater]

If the pleats have become distorted you might need to flatten the fabric and start again.

I use a cloth which is quite a bit wetter than for normal pressing, spread out the fabric as high up as can be done without pulling on the stitching and reduce the creases carefully.

After hanging the kilt to dry off, I carefully tack each pleat downwards from where it is sewn in down to the bottom edge, sewing maybe half an inch away from the outer fold. The pleats are still loose, and the tacking thread is not secured, just left in the fabric. When the pleats are all straightened, I press them individually by laying them on a board covered on a couple of folds of fabric, or on a sleeve board, working on a table so the weight of the kilt is supported.
Then I baste the pleats so they are the same measurement top and bottom, making a solid piece of folded fabric where nothing can move out of place. As I go across I pull the tacking threads out to below the level I am basting.
The narrowed end of an ironing board is for working on shaped skirts, and once the kilt is basted it should be possible to lie it fairly flat on an ironing board for pressing. Kilts should not lie entirely flat because they are shaped to wrap around a body and trying to get them flat is counter productive.

When the pleats are still basted you should check the fit - put it on and fasten the buckles - if the hips are too loose the shape is wrong for you and the fell is too / \ for a good fit. Unfortunately all the tailoring of the kilt is designed to keep the / \ stable so there might be a lot of work involved in undoing that. If the kilt was made with a heat activated glued on stabiliser then it might be almost impossible to remove.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[tundramanq]

If the kilt was made with a heat activated glued on stabiliser then it might be almost impossible to remove.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

A truly horrifying thought for a wool kilt in a load bearing situation.

[Pleater]

I was watching 'how kilts are made' videos on you tube - the first one was how to make a 'Greatheart' kilt, but in mirror image with the long bit over the right shoulder, and the second one went on about the skilled workforce and showed the big press and the stick on stuff.

I had to retreat to my workroom and do some knitting on tiny needles.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[tundramanq]

No eye poking Anne!
I will fess up to using hem binding tape on things where I am too lazy to blind stitch. But never on a wool kilt. Nor on anything where a load or abrasion is involved. This includes trouser hems.