Here goes: Longhuntr Kilt #1

[longhuntr74]

Alright...I've begun my first foray into the world of kiltmaking. Here are some pics of my efforts so far. This is the regimental fabric that many of us bought at a great price on ebay late last year.

The kilt will be knife pleated to the double black pinstripe in the center of the blue field. It will have 22 pleats measuring 15/16" at the hips and just over 3/4" at the waist.

8 Meters of fabric ripped to length.


Playing with the pleats.


Apron layout.


Underapron.


Right edge of apron basted.


Left edge basted and pinned to first pleat.


That's all so far. I need to run to the store to get thread and hair canvas. I will keep posting pics to this thread as I go along.

[Tartan Hiker]

Looks great so far.

[Eleazar]

Very nice. This will be fun to watch. Keep up the good work!

[ChattanCat]

Good start. I suggest that you give the edges of the apron an "A" shape instead of the triangle line that you have now. I do a line at the selvage, about two inches long. I then chalk from the top, first two inches straight down and gently turn the chalk and line to intersect the hip mark, and continue down so that when I end at the bottom chalk mark I am parallel and connect with the chalk mark at the bottom.

It gives a better appearance, try it.
Good kilting,

[MacBean]

Good start. I suggest that you give the edges of the apron an "A" shape instead of the triangle line that you have now. I do a line at the selvage, about two inches long. I then chalk from the top, first two inches straight down and gently turn the chalk and line to intersect the hip mark, and continue down so that when I end at the bottom chalk mark I am parallel and connect with the chalk mark at the bottom.

It gives a better appearance, try it.
Good kilting,

Sounds like an interesting comment, but I couldn't quite follow it, I guess because I couldn't find a triangle line in his drawings, and wasn't sure what direction "doing a line at the selvage" would be?

[Freelancer]

Looks great so far. Good luck with the rest of it.

[ChattanCat]

Here is an example of one method to shape the apron.

For the full description see: Shaping the apron curve

[Pleater]

I'm not sure if this is something I just assumed or actually read about, but when shaping the inner edges of the aprons I first of all fold the edge straight and press the lower part of it straight, about 6 inches up from the edge

I then fold the top in 2 inches, which takes 4 inches of material, making a sort of vertical dart right on the edge and then shape that into a curve and press it. This is the left edge of the upper and the right edge of the lower apron.

I do not make a single fold on the edge of the apron, as for the edge the top of the fold dips down, but for the under apron pleat I find that I need to pull the inner fold up to stop it rolling outwards. This also has the effect of lifting the lower edge up and out of sight so I do not need to put a hem on it.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[longhuntr74]

Wally..I was able to incorporate your suggestions without much trouble. Here's what I came up with.

Reshaped underapron...wasn't there yet, so this was an easy fix.


Reshaped apron...from the fell down.


By the way...made some progress on the actual sewing...5 pleats down...only 17 to go. Here's the first two.


In truth, I haven't worked on it since Sunday...maybe tomorrow I'll have some time.

[longhuntr74]

Wally...thanks for the feedback. The first five pleats are already stitched, so the changes will have to be from the fell down. I was following Barb and Elsie's instructions in the apron shape...which, to my recollection, basically is the same shape that regimental kilt aprons take, based on my observations...but I will see if I can incorporate it...perhaps on the next vs. this one. By the way, this kilt is for a friend of mine...the next one will be mine.