My recently-acquired Seaforth military box-pleat kilt is in virtually perfect condition, considering it's 19 years old. There is no sweat staining or yellowing of the lining, no wrinkling or distortion of the pleats, no fading or wear of the cloth, or anything else commonly seen on older military kilts. It looks like it's been stored in ideal conditions... except for one thing.

There is some slight moth damage to the inner apron. As discussed previously, it's almost definitely the result of being worn regimental, as the moth holes seem to be centered right in the area where... well... you know. Here's a close-up of the extent of the damaged area.



All in all, these are pretty small holes that don't seem to be a major detriment to the integrity of the kilt. I'd like to try my hand at repairing them. Since it's on the inner apron (and therefore hidden), it won't be a huge deal if my workmanship isn't perfect. It'll be a fun challenge and a learning experience.

What I intend to do is attempt re-weaving the area. I haven't been able to find a tutorial or description of how this should be done, but I'm assuming I should just take a needle and thread and run it into the existing weave far enough to give it holding power (friction) on both sides of the hole. Working little by little in both directions, and leaving some slack in the new thread so that the over/under action won't pull it too tightly when it's done, I would think I could make this a nearly invisible repair. Does anyone have tips or tricks to doing this? Or advice on how far into the existing cloth I need to back-weave the thread to get a good hold?

figheadair's recent "tartan of the month" thread showed an interesting example of some old repairs to tartan cloth. I'm borrowing his image for illustrative purposes:



I can see several areas where the cloth seems to have distortions where repairs have been made. It looks like perhaps not enough slack was left in the thread to allow the finished repair to be as flexible as the parent cloth. Which is to say, the weave looks really really tight at the repairs. But in the end, even if my repairs end up looking like this, I won't be unhappy. As long as I know the holes have been mended and pose no further risk of opening up, I'll call it successful.

So... where can I get my hands on a couple of feet of wool thread that matches fairly closely? It looks like I only need black, blue, and green. Does anyone have a bit of thread they'd be willing to stick in an envelope and mail to me?