Advice on Repairing Pleats and Thread Question

[Steve Ashton]

I'm not sure that I would agree that the methods presented in "The Art of Kiltmaking", or TAoK for short, cannot be applied to repairs.
I have made many kilts from scratch and repaired many kilts. I use the same techniques and the same 4 stitches for both.

When stitching pleats by hand I do not push the needle into the fabric perpendicular to the edge of the pleat. I push the needle into the pleat perpendicular to where the thread from the last stitch came out of the fabric. The needle then passes through the fabric at an angle.
This does two things. The angle of the needle sets the size or length of the stitches and allow me to adjust and maintain the alignment of the Tartan elements.



This is called a Fell Stitch.