X Marks the Scot - An on-line community of kilt wearers.

   X Marks Partners - (Go to the Partners Dedicated Forums )
USA Kilts website Celtic Croft website Celtic Corner website Houston Kiltmakers

User Tag List

Page 3 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 43
  1. #21
    Join Date
    27th October 09
    Location
    Kerrville, Texas
    Posts
    5,686
    Mentioned
    8 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I received the broadcloth that I intend to use for the sashing strips between the tartan patches. It's a bit more grey than I had envisioned, but I'm starting to like it. I had originally intended it to be a solid khaki or olive drab colour, but this is more like a mottled green/grey with a light nap to it. Unfortunately, my phone camera makes it look more grey than it really is and I'm not savvy enough to adjust the image back to reality. But here are some of the tartan pieces laid over the cloth, along with the green wool twill tape binding (which is a perfect match to the binding on my Seaforth kilt).


  2. The Following User Says 'Aye' to Tobus For This Useful Post:


  3. #22
    Join Date
    27th October 09
    Location
    Kerrville, Texas
    Posts
    5,686
    Mentioned
    8 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    One of my original questions which I'm still curious about is how one goes about installing the binding at the top of a kilt, and whether I can achieve the same effect on this quilt.

    For reference, here's the top of my QOH kilt. The twill tape I have purchased is an exact match to it. I would assume that the tape is laid on the outside of the kilt, then stitched down right near the edge of the tape about 3/8" from the top of the tartan material, and then rolled over the top and stitched on the inside. This hides the edge of the twill tape and the stitching since it's folded over at the stitch line. But on my kilt, the inside stitching (i.e. inside of the kilt) is hidden by the lining so I can't see what it looks like.

    Since my quilt will not have a liner that covers the binding on the bottom side (all the layers of the quilt will be enclosed by the binding), I'm wondering how to stitch the bottom side of the binding once it's rolled over the edge. What would a kiltmaker do if they were making this project and attempting to give it a clean finish? Should I just try to hand-stitch it through the bottom layer of material of the quilt without going back all the way through to the top side?

    I'm also going to have to figure out how to turn a corner with the binding, something that doesn't happen on a kilt. I'll have to see what quilters typically do. I'm thinking I may end up putting rounded corners on this blanket and seeing how tight of a radius I can turn with the binding to avoid pointy corners.

    Last edited by Tobus; 12th June 20 at 07:16 AM.

  4. #23
    Join Date
    18th March 20
    Location
    Prague, CZ - SC, USA
    Posts
    32
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Tobus View Post
    One of my original questions which I'm still curious about is how one goes about installing the binding at the top of a kilt, and whether I can achieve the same effect on this quilt.

    For reference, here's the top of my QOH kilt. The twill tape I have purchased is an exact match to it. I would assume that the tape is laid on the outside of the kilt, then stitched down right near the edge of the tape about 3/8" from the top of the tartan material, and then rolled over the top and stitched on the inside. This hides the edge of the twill tape and the stitching since it's folded over at the stitch line. But on my kilt, the inside stitching (i.e. inside of the kilt) is hidden by the lining so I can't see what it looks like.

    Since my quilt will not have a liner that covers the binding on the bottom side (all the layers of the quilt will be enclosed by the binding), I'm wondering how to stitch the bottom side of the binding once it's rolled over the edge. What would a kiltmaker do if they were making this project and attempting to give it a clean finish? Should I just try to hand-stitch it through the bottom layer of material of the quilt without going back all the way through to the top side?

    I'm also going to have to figure out how to turn a corner with the binding, something that doesn't happen on a kilt. I'll have to see what quilters typically do. I'm thinking I may end up putting rounded corners on this blanket and seeing how tight of a radius I can turn with the binding to avoid pointy corners.

    I am by no means a quilter, but it seems to me that you could achieve the hidden rolled edge effect by attaching the binding before all the blocks are connected to the backing. Eg. stitch the binding to the blocking then fold it and pin it so that when the blocking is face down it sticks out a little beyond the edge, then line this up on the edge of the backing material and stitch around almost all of the perimeter then turn it inside out leaving only a small portion of the bottom edge perhaps for a careful visible stitch. Then come back and stitch the blocking and backing together. It would still be fairly fiddly, but depending on how broad your binding is I think you might still be able to get it on the sewing machine.

  5. #24
    Join Date
    3rd January 06
    Location
    Dorset, on the South coast of England
    Posts
    4,400
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I just took another look at the machine and I think there is a little rubber wheel missing from the bobbin winder - when in use the rubber wheel is in contact with the main machine wheel - it fits in the groove at the end of the winder.
    You can improvise with rubber bands if necessary.

    Anne the Pleater
    I presume to dictate to no man what he shall eat or drink or wherewithal he shall be clothed."
    -- The Hon. Stuart Ruaidri Erskine, The Kilt & How to Wear It, 1901.

  6. #25
    Join Date
    16th March 20
    Location
    Owego, NY
    Posts
    236
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I will outline the procedure my wife uses (she has quilted for many years and has taught classes). I'll try to keep this in some order. Your project does differ from the usual cotton quilt as your material is much heavier. I'll try to note where that may be important or useful.
    1 Sew your blocks and sashing as you wish. Note that whether you make all your blocks and sashes the same size will be important later. It is not necessary, just your preference.
    2 Lay down your backing, then batting or fill (if you decide to use it). Both should be larger than your quilt top.
    2a My wife uses a special frame to hold these in place. For a one off you might tape the backing to the floor and lay the batting and top over this. She does this on a table for smaller pieces.
    3 Pin or baste the three parts together. My wife uses safety pins, 4 or 5 to a block. That's a lot of pins for a one off.
    4 Quilt or tie your quilt. You might not be able to make this decision until you get to this point as you have a special top.
    4a To quilt on your own machine you need to roll it up so it fits through the machine. You should research "machine quilting" to get an idea if you want go this route. Not trivial.
    4b Have someone "longarm quilt" it for you. There are likely people near you who do tbis service.
    4c Tie your quilt. This may be the way to go considering how heavy it might be, and how much you might want to do this all yourself. Again, Google is your friend.
    5 Now comes the binding, after you have quilted or tied it all together. Trim the excess binding and backing down to the size of the top. Sew the binding to the front of the quilt just far enough from the edge that it won't pull out but leaves plenty of width to finish. Fold it over the edge and around so that you can sew from the back. Doing it this way hides the seam under the binding.
    5a Because you have a tape to use for binding you don't have to fold it under in the back if you dont want to. What my wife does, because she uses cut fabric not tape, is sew in front as above, fold over to the back, fold the raw edge under and hand sew the binding down. Tbis way no seam shows on the front. With your tape you do not necessarily need to fold the edge under in the back, or the front for that matter. It depends on whether you don't want a seam to show on the front. Be aware that if you don't fold it under in front, machine sew it down, and try to machine sew from the back, your two seams are not likely to line up.
    As far as handling the corners, to make them sharp, just give yourself a little extra tape and fold it into a little reverse hat that hides inside the binding. That's a long way off yet.

    Full disclosure: I have not vetted this with my wife.

    Good luck and keep us posted!

  7. The Following User Says 'Aye' to DCampbell16B For This Useful Post:


  8. #26
    Join Date
    28th May 13
    Location
    Calgary, Alberta, Canada
    Posts
    2,947
    Mentioned
    2 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    quilt vs kilt

    I don't know how many times over the years the years I have had people comment "what a lovely quilt you are wearing".
    I used to smile and say "kilt", now I just smile.
    "Good judgement comes from experience, and experience
    well, that comes from poor judgement."
    A. A. Milne

  9. #27
    Join Date
    27th October 09
    Location
    Kerrville, Texas
    Posts
    5,686
    Mentioned
    8 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Pleater View Post
    I just took another look at the machine and I think there is a little rubber wheel missing from the bobbin winder - when in use the rubber wheel is in contact with the main machine wheel - it fits in the groove at the end of the winder.
    You can improvise with rubber bands if necessary.

    Anne the Pleater
    On the electric machine, the bobbin winder does get pushed up against the wheel. There's a rubber piece on there that needs replacing.

    But on the treadle machine, as I understand it, the bobbin winder swings away from the main body of the machine so that the little wheel on the right side of the winder comes into contact with the treadle belt. There shouldn't be any rubber piece required.

    I'm still waiting on the treadle belt to come in. My first one got lost in the mail, apparently. Just my luck. But once I get the silly belt on, I'll be testing it to make sure that bobbin winder works as intended.

  10. #28
    Join Date
    3rd January 06
    Location
    Dorset, on the South coast of England
    Posts
    4,400
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Tobus View Post
    On the electric machine, the bobbin winder does get pushed up against the wheel. There's a rubber piece on there that needs replacing.

    But on the treadle machine, as I understand it, the bobbin winder swings away from the main body of the machine so that the little wheel on the right side of the winder comes into contact with the treadle belt. There shouldn't be any rubber piece required.

    I'm still waiting on the treadle belt to come in. My first one got lost in the mail, apparently. Just my luck. But once I get the silly belt on, I'll be testing it to make sure that bobbin winder works as intended.
    Maybe just different models - it is difficult to see without the belt being on there, but yes, it does look as though the winder would connect with it.
    The one we had from my Dad's mother was not electric, but the bobbin ran against the wheel not the belt. I had to repair the belt several times with cord as one of the holes through which the metal join passed had broken. I think that has to be the first thing I ever repaired.

    Anne the Pleater
    I presume to dictate to no man what he shall eat or drink or wherewithal he shall be clothed."
    -- The Hon. Stuart Ruaidri Erskine, The Kilt & How to Wear It, 1901.

  11. The Following User Says 'Aye' to Pleater For This Useful Post:


  12. #29
    Join Date
    27th October 09
    Location
    Kerrville, Texas
    Posts
    5,686
    Mentioned
    8 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I spent some time today cutting my tartan scraps into rough pieces so I could get a true count of how many I could use. Happily, I found another tartan that I hadn't included before. So I can now do this project with all Scottish clan tartans with government/regimental ties, and won't have to use substitutes like USMC. My next step will be to trim these down to 9.5"x9.5" squares, although I'm a bit intimidated by trying to get the tartan lines perfectly square.

    At any rate, the tartans I'll be using are now (from left to right, top row then bottom row):
    Campbell of Argyll, Gordon, Mackenzie/Seaforth (small sett), Robertson Hunting
    Black Watch/Wilsons, Black Watch/Modern, Black Watch/Ancient, Sutherland



    I've decided to size up my project a bit and eliminate the outer sashing/border. The reason is because I want the binding material to touch the tartan like it does on a military kilt. With the sashing, there's separation and the effect isn't quite the same. Since that shrank my blanket a bit by removing the outer sashing, I will make it wider by one row of tartan patches. The new measurement should be 75"x86".

    I'm currently in "negotiations" with my wife about this project. She likes everything about it except the bright green twill tape binding. Despite it being a traditional military colour, she hates it and says it's not going on our bed with that binding. If I can't change her mind (who am I kidding?), I may end up compromising to a khaki/olive colour binding, if I can find it. Worst case, black. There's also a case to be made for blue twill tape. All of these colours have been used on military kilts at some point.

    Last edited by Tobus; 14th June 20 at 05:19 AM.

  13. #30
    Join Date
    30th November 04
    Location
    Deansboro, NY
    Posts
    3,326
    Mentioned
    5 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    To be honest, I have to agree with her. It's not a military kilt, and the meaning would be lost on virtually anyone looking at the quilt. Most people would have their eyes drawn to what they would see as a garish green border and wonder why you chose a color that didn't go with the beautiful dark and muted shades of the tartan squares. And I'm sure that you would want people to look at the kilt itself, not obsess about the border.
    Kiltmaker, piper, and geologist (one of the few, the proud, with brains for rocks....
    Member, Scottish Tartans Authority
    Geology stuff (mostly) at http://people.hamilton.edu/btewksbu
    The Art of Kiltmaking at http://theartofkiltmaking.com

  14. The Following 3 Users say 'Aye' to Barb T For This Useful Post:


Page 3 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

» Log in

User Name:

Password:

Not a member yet?
Register Now!
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v4.2.0