Question on Knife Pleats

[alhrensblade]

Greetings all,

I've been thinking of getting a modern-styled kilt for a while now, but as the prices of such things as utilikilts and such are a bit... shall we say 'high' for a garment I want to just try out, I've decided to make one. I've got a bit of sewing skill, and a fair knowledge of most of the basics of making a kilt, save one thing: every site I've seen gives instructions like 'Sew the pleats...', but I have no idea -where- you'd stitch. I like the look of knife pleats much more than box, and would really prefer to go this route, but I can't for the life of me figure which would be the best way to stitch.

Assuming that we're looking at the 'outside-facing' side of the pleated section of a kilt (you'll have to pardon the crude drawing and possibly incorrect pleat direction ^^;), which line would one stitch down to do a proper knife pleat- line A, on the 'outer edge' of the pleat, to hold it down to the one beneath it, line B, on the 'inside edge' to hold the 'inside edge' of the pleat to the layer above, or somewhere else entirely?
Any help on this would be most appreciated.

[HeathBar]

By your description, you want to sew the edge of the pleat to the next pleat. The idea is to sew in a way to make the stitches as invisible as possible. If you are hand stichting, I would advise you to look at the book, The Art of Kiltmaking available at http://www.celticdragonpress.com/

If you are machine stitching, there are a couple of ways to do it. You could fold the pleat as if you were hand stitching, but the run a stitch down the edge of the pleat. Try to use a thread that will match the colors of the material. The other machine method is to line up the edges of the pleat very accurately and then run a stitch from the inside of the kilt. I think this way works better for kilts with pleat that are 1" or wider. I suppose it could be done with smaller pleats if you have a narrow foot, a steady hand, and a good seam ripper. Oh yea, and patience, lots of patience.

Did that help?

[alhrensblade]

Hmm... That helps put things together in my mind, actually. For best 'nonvisibility' I'd want then line B, with enough overlap on the pleats themselves to hide the stitching (I've not calculated pleats yet, but then again I'll be working not with plaid but with a decent weight dark grey somethingorother I've got about 10 yards of laying around). Now that I've got that last bit worked out, I'll start measuring and such tonight. Than ks ^^

[HeathBar]

Let me see if I can explain the hand stitching method without pictuures.

First you would fold Pleat A, figure the taper, then fold Pleat B, figure in its taper. The material for Pleat C is folded back, not out in front. So all you have in front of you are Pleats A & B. Next you would sew the edge of Pleat A to Pleat B.

Then you bring up the material for Pleat C. Fold it with it taper and pull the rest back, not forward. Then sew the edge of Pleat B to Pleat C.

Keep repeating until you have all the pleats sewn.

Clear as mud.

[Pleater]

If the outside of the kilt is towards the viewer then in your diagram the seam is actually to the right of B, and it involves the outer fold of the pleat, in your diagram it is to the right, not the inner fold of the previous pleat.

There are two different methods of doing the tapering.

One is done on wool and wool mix kilts, because they are more pliable. If you fold the fabric to form the inner crease and sew through the two layers - you can do that on a sewing machine, you slant the line of the sewing so as to make the distance from the fold decrease as it gets further from the waistline. As it is a slant the seam is longer than the straight grain and will need to be pressed to fit.

The other is more usually seen on cotton or other rigid fabrics. There the outer edge of the pleat is kept straight on the grain of the fabric, but it is sewn down onto the fabric beneath it a slant.

When using a sewing machine you normally can't pin in all the pleats, but do one at a time so you can get at it easily.

If you take a piece of fabric and fold it up you should see how the pleats overlap and would get in the way of machine sewing if they were all pinned down.

[BozemanboB]

Pleater, I have a question for you about knife pleating cotton denim.

I'm working now on Y-Kilt V2, a knife-pleated case. I've got the pleat edges sewn from hip to hem, and now need to taper the top. I tried this last night according to your instructions above and then had a, well, a seam-ripping party. I tried to keep the exposed knife edge straight and introduce the taper by adjusting the fabric underneath the pleat (the hidden knife edge, in other words).

Imagine this:
- The kilt has 18 pleats. Call pleat 1 the left-most pleat, pleat 9 is the middle of the back.
- Kilt spread open on a table, face up, hem toward me.
- The hem of pleat 1 is angled to the left much more than hem of pleat 18 is angled to the right.
- Pleat 9 should be vertical, but it leans right dramatically.

Seen another way, arrange the kilt so that pleat 9 is vertical:
- the hem of pleat 1 touches the edge of the table
- the hem of pleat 18 is several inches from the edge of the table

The result is that the hem of the left side is hangs lower than the right side when I lash the thing about my hips.

My question (finally): Where did I go wrong?

Thank you for your help!


boB

[BozemanboB]

Well, I might have found something wrong.

The first pleat (on the left, #1, whatever) drifted off-line at the top. That would cause all the rest of the pleats to wander as well since they were measured from this first one.

I have a construction technique question: when you sew down the pleats, as on a cotton kilt, do you iron the pleats from hem to waist before sewing them from fell to hem? On this kilt I ironed only from fell to hem, and I think that's causing some of my grief. It's more difficult now to get the edge of the pleat to continue straight from fell to waist.

Pleater, I've seen some of your other threads and it looks like you make beautiful kilts. Do you have a collection of pictures somewhere on the forum? I'd like to take a closer work at your work to fuel my enthusiasm and provide construction ideas. Yeah... like I need to fuel my enthusiasm!!

I'll keep you posted on progress and post pics (and questions) as needed.

boB

[BozemanboB]

This thread, I think, will go a long ways towards straightening me out - and my kilt, too!

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=25996

[Pleater]

Gosh (blush) I just read a message from yesterday I somehow missed

I supose I am a bit of a perfectionist when making garments. However, after 50 years I should be good at it.

I am just starting to accumulate a set of photos in order to have them to handy for reference, rather than trying to make some rather used kilts look good enough to photograph.

I do need to practise with the digital camera - so as to get things in focus, and also remember to take photos during construction, to show the methods, and also to be able to do them again.

The official kilt under construction at the moment has 50 pleats (could be more, eventually) 2/5ths of an inch reveal and a varying depth, so as to create identical reveals of black edged grey but alternate black/red and black/white inside the pleats. The fabric is a crazy striped pattern before pleating, so it is interesting to see how orderly it is when folded.

Having pulled out some material and kilts to take photos, now I have heaps of cloth everywhere that needs to be tidied away or finished and hung up - but of course things have got lost - I have a grey white printed stripe kilt almost done that has lost its waistband, and several separated from the thread I was using to sew them. What is worse, I can't find the micrometer. Yes - sad isn't it - I use a micrometer to measure the pleat reveals.

So - hopefully I will soon be filling up my Photobucket album with in focus shots of nicely pressed pleats and finished kilts, but the normal situation prevails just at the moment.

[Pleater]

Did all the advice, resewing, pressing, pulling, hammering(!!!) etc work, did the fabric eventually give in and become a kilt?